Healthy Eritrean and Ethiopian Recipes

This is my go to recipe, especially during a busy weekday. It calls for easy ingredients, it can also be accompanied by an easy to make side dishes like rice and salad if preferred.

Ingredients

• 1 pack (14 to 15 pcs) chicken thighs skin removed
• 2 cups cooking oil – I prefer to use avocado oil, but other type of vegetable oil works too (Don’t use olive oil as it solidifies once you put it in the refrigerator and won’t blend well with the other spices this recipe calls for)
• 2-3 tablespoons berbere
• 1 tea spoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black peppers
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder (optional)

Baking Equipment needed

• a gallon size zip lock bag
• a casserole pan/dish

Steps

• Remove the skin from the chicken thighs
• In a zip lock bag pour 2 cups cooking oil
• Add berbere and the other dry spices
• Seal the zip lock tight and carefully mix all the ingredients
• Once all the oil and the dry spices are mixed well, open the zip lock bag and place the chicken thighs one at a time. Once all the chicken is in the zip lock bag, carefully seal it tight and mix the chicken well
• Let it marinate in the refrigerator for an hour (you can let it marinate for a day) – to avoid dripping and staining your refrigerator make sure you place the zip lock bag on a tray or container.
• When you are ready to cook it, preheat oven to 350⁰F
• Align the chicken thighs on a baking casserole pan
• Pour the leftover oil and spices over the aligned chicken
• Bake it for 30-40 minutes. Turn the chicken halfway through.

Let it cool for 10 minutes, remove the chicken from the pan onto a paper towel lined serving plate. The paper towel helps absorb the extra oil.

Let it cool for 5 more minutes and serve it with cooked rice, salad, or as is.