Doro Wat - The Onions

This weekend I tried cooking my first Ethiopian dish. It's called Doro Wat. Wat is a word for stew (or sauce), and Doro Wat is chicken stew. It's my understanding that this is a dish that is made for special occasions, like a religious holiday or when the big extended family is getting together.

I had no idea how long it was all going to take, so I started with the onions. Here is a photo journey of my experience. (Please note that I understand these photos will never win first place in an art show. The purpose was merely documentation to make you smile - my first priority was the Wat!)

Step 1: Purchase 7 large, sweet yellow onions. Check!


Step 2: Dice and cook down onions to half their size. I wonder how long this will take...
This is what it looked like when I started at 10:30...



And later...

Still cooking! The recipe says the longer you cook the onions, the better your wat will be. I want really good wat!



Step 3: After onions have cooked down, add oil and salt to fry them.



The longer you fry them, the better the Wot...

When all was said and done, here is a photo of the remnants of my 7 large onions:


Hopefully I will have really good wat! Tune in Wednesday to see Part 2 of my cooking adventure!