---
title: Shiro & Dinnich Wat
date: 2024-08-25 19:00:00
slug: ET-Shiro
country: ET
tags:
  - potato
  - vegetarian
  - stew
---

<img src="https://static.garrettmills.dev/assets/blog-images/food/et-shiro/optimized/shiro-1.jpg">

We conclude our exploration of Ethiopian cuisine this week with a double-header: _shiro_, a thick sauce made from powdered chickpeas, and _dinnich wat_, a spicy _wat_ made with potatoes.

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Our recipes this week come from "Cooking With Imaye" by Lena Deresse, a delightful little book of recipes that memorialize her cooking journey with her mother. The _dinnich_ is similar to the [_doro wat_](/food/2024/07/27/ET-Doro-Wat) we tried previously, however the shiro was an interesting departure.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients before we started. I was joined by my sister when we cooked this, so the chaos levels were high.

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Both recipes start with the same onion base, so we did a large batch. As is customary, this begins by dry-cooking the onions over a low heat until they begin to soften. Here, we used a mixture of red and yellow onion.

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Once the onions soften, Lena calls for what I can only describe as a cholesterol-wrenching amount of fat. The onions slowly cook down in the fat for a bit longer. Then, we split the onions into two pots for the two recipes.

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Both recipes then call for a blend of spices, which are then cooked down in the fat for about 15 minutes. The _shiro_ has a healthy amount of spicy _berbere_, though this can be omitted to make something known as "white _shiro_," a more mild dish.

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During this time, we added a few splashes of water to each to keep them from catching and burning. While these were cooking, we prepared the _shiro_ by mixing it with water to form a thick paste.

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For the _shiro_, we then whisked the prepared paste into the onion-mixture until it was well incorporated, then added boiling water until it was in a thick-soup consistency.

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The _shiro_ starts off watery, then reduces for the better part of an hour until it returns to a thick-sauce consistency. In that time, it picks up the flavor of the onions and spices and cooks out the raw chickpea flour.

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For the _dinnich_, we added about 10 cubed white potatoes and topped it off with enough water to cover. This too reduces down over the next hour until the potatoes are tender and the sauce has thickened slightly.

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At this point, the name of the game is evaporation as the _shiro_ and the _dinnich_ reduce down to a less watery consistency. As the shiro cooks, it thickens considerably. Lena warns that it should be done over a bare simmer and to take care when stirring (I used a whisk) as the thick, bubbly _shiro_ can burn you if it splatters.

Lena finishes the _shiro_ by optionally stirring through a halved green chili for heat, which we did.

<img src="https://static.garrettmills.dev/assets/blog-images/food/et-shiro/optimized/shiro-24.jpg">

We ate the _shiro_ and _dinnich_ with _injera_ flatbread and over rice spiced with turmeric. The _shiro_ was thick and very satisfying to eat with rice, in my opinion. It is smooth and has almost a nutty flavor and is plenty spicy. The _dinnich_ is obviously quite similar in flavor to the _doro_, and was quite pleasant. Both of these were extremely filling.

The _shiro_ was quite good, though I'd like to try the _nech shiro_ without the _berbere_ spice. I like spicy food, but especially since we ate it along with the _dinnich_, I think it would have been a nice balance.

All in all, this was a nice book-end for our exploration of Ethiopian cuisine.

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All images in this post were taken by me or my sister, Piper. I borrowed "Cooking With Imaye: Ethiopian Cuisine Straight From Mom's Kitchen" from the fantastic Indianapolis Public Library.
