Siga Wot

This dish - ሥጋ ወጥ in Amharic - is another old favorite from Ethiopia, and turns out beautifully tender using the pressure cooker. The core of the recipe is from Ato Daniel's classic Ethiopian cookbook, but I've tweaked it here and there to work better for me. The end result still tastes like the original to me, and is well worth a try if you already love Ethiopian food or are looking to try it out at home!

Siga Wot

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of olive oil

450g / 1lb of stewing beef

2 tablespoons of qibé or butter

1 medium red onion (chopped)

5 cloves of garlic (crushed/minced)

1 small knob of ginger (crushed/minced)

1/4 cup of berberé*

1 cup of water (as needed)

1 teaspoon of beef bouillon powder

Salt (to taste)

Injera** (to serve)

Aib (to serve)

*The amount I use makes for a moderately spicy dish - possibly very spicy if you're not used to spicy food. I enjoy the heat in dishes like this, but I also like to be able to taste everything. If you really want to clear out your sinuses (or are working with weak berberé), then you could increase the amount of berberé by half or more.

**I've used paratha or naan in a pinch, but it's just not the same...

Directions

1) I like to brown the beef (and get rid of any muck) before carrying on with the recipe proper, so I start out by heating some olive oil in a pan over medium heat and cooking the beef on all sides until it's beautifully brown. Once it's down browning set the beef aside until steps 2 through # are completed.

2) If you're using an Instapot, then while the beef is browning add the qibé or butter (or even olive oil if need be) to your Instapot and sauté the onion till translucent. If you're not using an Instapot, then you may need to pull out another pan for this - sorry guys!

3) Once the onion has started to become translucent add the garlic 'n ginger and keep sautéing for another minute or two.

4) Everything should be beautifully fragrant by now, but wait, there's more! (More to be fragrant, that is!) Reduce the heat to medium-low, stir the berberé into the onion mixture, and sauté - stirring frequently - for another couple of minutes to bring out the full flavor of the berberé. If things get too dry or the paste starts to burn splash a little water in to deglaze.

5) Add your water to the Instapot or pan to deglaze, then stir in the beef, bouillon, and salt (go easy on the salt because some berberé mixes are a bit salty, plus you can always add more salt later), and set your pressure cooker to cook on high for 45 minutes.

6) Once the pressure cooker's done have a look and see how the wot's coming along. It shouldn't be watery, so if there's too much liquid switch back over to sauté mode (literally or figuratively!) and sauté over medium heat until the sauce has thickened up.

7) Now's the time to give your siga wot a quick taste! Add more salt if it's needed, but if you're disappointed with the spiciness of the dish, do not just add more berberé straight into the dish - heat a little oil or butter in a small pan and cook the extra berberé you want to add for a minute or two (as we did in step 4), then add it to the sauce. If you don't do this there'll be a raw, somewhat unpleasant taste to the final dish. (Like the standard Japanese or Chinese curries - if you know, you know!)

8) Most Ethiopian dishes - even salad - are normally served over injera, with rolls of injera to eat everything. I personally love siga wot as part of a mixed platter of dishes, but it's also great on its own! If you have trouble with spicy food and can buy (or make!) aib, then a sprinkling of that might be a good idea when you serve this. Don't let a lack of injera stop you from making siga wot, however! In the past I've had it with paratha (as mentioned above), and even rice when I was living in East Asia. Do what you can, and enjoy!