Shiro Wot: Ethiopian Chickpea Flour Stew

The star of fasting days, its bean aroma rising in the steam

Into a pot of slowly cooked onions goes the berbere. Red oil spreads out, and once the garlic and ginger turn fragrant, a pale stream of chickpea flour whisked into water is poured in slowly. At first it looks like a thin, unpromising soup, but after a few minutes of stirring it thickens from the bottom of the pot, and a line drawn with a wooden spoon holds for a moment. That's when this Ethiopian bean stew, shiro wot, is ready to eat.

Shiro wot (Shiro Wot / Shiro Wat / ሽሮ ወጥ) is a stew of ground legumes loved in Ethiopian and Eritrean cooking. Wot refers to stews in general: if chicken doro wot (in Japanese) is the red star of celebrations, shiro wot is the thick bean stew that carries the everyday table. On Ethiopian Orthodox fasting days, meat, eggs and dairy are avoided, so shiro wot made with plant oil shows up on the table more often.

In Ethiopian kitchens, cooks use shiro powder: roasted chickpeas, fava beans, peas and other legumes ground and combined with spices. Shiro powder can be hard to find, so this article uses chickpea flour, also sold as besan at Indian grocery stores. What to keep: the smooth thickness of the legume flour, the red aroma of berbere, and a consistency you can scoop with injera. What you can change: the type of legume flour, the type of oil and the level of heat.

If you plan to make your own injera, reading how to make injera (in Japanese) first makes the timing easier. On days when you don't have time for a fermented flatbread, a tangy rye bread, thin crepes or plain white rice are fine. But for at least the first bite, eat it as if you were wiping the shiro off the side of the pot with bread. The bean aroma comes through more closely than with a spoon.

Ingredients and shopping

Shiro wot looks like it has few ingredients, but the two that cause the most hesitation when shopping are the legume flour and the berbere. Chickpea flour can be replaced with besan from Indian cooking. Berbere varies widely in heat from brand to brand, so the first time, start with 1.5 tbsp and add more at the end; that's the safer route.

Ingredients worth seeking out

The quality of the berbere changes the impression of shiro wot as much as the chickpea flour does. Rather than making do with a chile powder that only brings heat, get berbere first and fill in any missing aroma with paprika or fenugreek; you can then use it in other Ethiopian dishes too.

Method: whisk the flour before it goes into the pot

The most common mistake with shiro wot is adding the flour straight to the pot and getting lumps. Here, the flour is whisked into water first and poured into the red base in a thin stream. Keep the heat between low and medium and simmer while scraping the bottom, and you'll get a smooth bean stew.

How to eat it, regional differences, and common pitfalls

Shiro wot makes the most sense spread over injera. The tang of the injera cuts the heaviness of the beans and softens the heat of the berbere. Lay injera on a plate, pour a round of shiro wot in the center, and set greens or another legume dish such as misir wot alongside, and you're close to a home-style fasting-day plate.

The thickness of shiro wot varies a lot by region and household. A thinner version is sometimes called shiro fesses and suits soaking into injera. A thick version simmered down in a small clay pot, its bottom slightly toasted, leans toward tegamino. In a home kitchen, a medium, spoon-coating thickness the first time makes it easy to pair with bread or rice.

If lumps form, don't panic and turn up the heat. Turn off the heat, add 50–100 ml water and whisk for 1 minute. Press any large lumps that remain through a sieve back into the pot. It won't be quite as smooth as before, but you'll greatly reduce the bits you notice when eating.

If it's too thin, simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes rather than boiling it down fast over high heat. Legume flour scorches easily on the bottom, and the burnt bitterness spreads through the whole pot. If it's too thick, add boiling water a little at a time. Cold water drops the temperature and tends to bring back a raw, floury taste, so when reheating too, thinning with boiling water is more reliable.

If you read how to make berbere and blend your own, you can tone down the heat while keeping the aroma. To add meat dishes to the table, tibs (in Japanese) or doro wot work well, and for comparing spicy red stews, Eritrean zigni (in Japanese) is a good match too. For a different take on legumes, try it side by side with Indian chana masala (in Japanese): the same chickpea shows the difference between a culture that grinds it into flour and one that simmers it whole.

FAQ

Q1. What can I use if I don't have chickpea flour?

The closest is besan. Indian grocery stores and online shops sell it as finely ground chickpea flour. Kinako (Japanese roasted soybean flour) has an aroma too close to sweet soybean confections, so it isn't recommended as a substitute. If you grind dried chickpeas in a home mill, coarse particles tend to remain, so sift it and save the coarse bits for another dish.

Q2. Are shiro powder and chickpea flour the same?

No. Shiro powder is roasted legume flour mixed with ground spices and aromatics, and blends vary, using chickpeas, fava beans, peas and more. If you make it with chickpea flour alone, you need berbere, garlic, ginger and tomato paste to fill in the aroma. If you use store-bought shiro powder, replace the 120 g chickpea flour in this recipe with the same amount, and start with half the berbere.

Q3. Can lumpy shiro wot be rescued?

Light lumps can be fixed. Turn off the heat, add 50 ml boiling water and whisk for about 1 minute. If large lumps remain, press them through a sieve back into the pot. To prevent them: always whisk the flour into water first, pour it into the pot in a thin stream, and keep stirring the bottom for the first 5 minutes after pouring.

Q4. What if the berbere is too spicy?

Next time, cut the berbere to 1 tbsp and fill in the aroma with 2 tsp paprika and a little fenugreek. For a pot that's already too hot, whisk 1 tbsp chickpea flour into 80 ml water, add it and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes to round off the heat a little. Absorbing it with legume flour and oil keeps the character of shiro wot better than sweetening it with sugar.

Q5. Can I eat it without injera?

Yes. Plain white rice, baguette, thin buckwheat crepes and rye bread are practical choices. Without the tang of injera, though, the heaviness of the beans comes forward, so use 1 tsp lemon juice at the end and serve greens or a tomato salad on the side to keep it from feeling heavy.

Q6. How should I store and reheat it?

Let it cool slightly, transfer it to a shallow container and refrigerate for up to 2 days. To reheat, put it in a small pot, add 2–4 tbsp boiling water and warm over low heat for 3–5 minutes. In the microwave, heat at 600 W in 1-minute bursts, stirring well each time. It can be frozen for about 2 weeks, but it tends to turn a little floury after thawing, so add boiling water and 1 tsp oil to bring back the smoothness.

Q7. What should I avoid if I'm making it as a fasting dish?

To keep it close to Ethiopian Orthodox fasting days, skip butter, niter kibbeh, meat stock and dairy, and make it with plant oil and water. Practices differ by household, denomination and region, so if you're serving someone with strict religious dietary rules, ask them which oils and seasonings they can have.

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