This Ethiopian red lentil stew, Kik Wat, is a satisfying vegetarian dish spiced with berbere seasoning and cardamon.
This is a blend of spices used in African-inspired cooking. It's available in most large supermarkets in the spice aisle.
It may depend on which berbere powder you use, but I put in half the given amount of berbere and it was still wayyy too spicy for a North American family (my kids wouldn't eat it even after we added coconut milk, extra tomatoes, and sugar to help cool it down). I would suggest starting with maybe 1/5 the berbere and then adding the right amount to taste at the end. Recipe instructions also could use to be rewritten so they don't include ingredient amounts (which don't match the ingredient list when the recipe is scaled down). Default recipe size of 16 servings was way too large. I scaled it down to "six" servings and we will have enough leftovers to last the rest of the week. - 18 Apr 2018 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
I scaled the recipe down to 1/5th of the normal volume, which makes 4 servings when mixed with rice. Delicious, but sadly too spicy for me- my husband thought it was great though! If anyone needs it, the scaled down measurements are as follows: 1 yellow onion, 1 red onion, 5 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup canola oil, 2 Tablespoons berbere, 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, 1 cup red lentils, 2 cups water, 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom - 03 Mar 2018 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
Phenomenal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Done and done!!!!!!! This recipe made a LOT of food... but I tried a bunch of Ethiopian dishes including meat dishes and this was by far the winner of the bunch. The good thing about making this quantity of food in one sitting is that it freezes well and is even more delicious when you go back to it. I failed attempting to make injera, so I probably won't try that again however I served it with rice which paired perfectly with it. I found smoked Basmati rice at my supermarket... and WOW! The perfect pairing!!! - 16 Jan 2018 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)