A spicy, rich and hearty vegan stew based on the Ethiopian pureed dish, shiro wat.
I don't think I've ever had an Ethiopian dish in my life. And I didn't set out to make one when I made this dish! I was in my mother's room and she was watching PBS and a food show was on and it caught my attention. It was called Milk Street. On that particular episode the chef had a guest chef on the show that was making an amazing looking sweet Mexican corn cake. *Mmmmm, cake*! I was trying to figure out if I could veganize it so I had to look up the recipe. When I did, I realized that there was probably no way to veganize the cake so I started looking at other recipes.
This dish caught my eye. Of COURSE it caught my eye, it's chickpeas after all! Chickpeas are a staple food item for vegan and plant-based folk. At least they are in my humble opinion.
I had made berbere spice the day before for a black eyed pea hummus dish so I was excited to see it as the spice for the stew. This dish immediately reminded me of chickpeas curry (chana masala) as I was preparing it. The heady, aromatic spices, onion, tomatoes and garlic are also ingredients for the curry.
So off I set to make this recipe. It looked so filling and something I could eat off of for several days. It's a little challenging when you're trying to veganize a dish you've never had but even if it doesn't taste like the original, it was exceptionally delicious.
This recipe is modified from Christopher Kimball's Milk Street.