Growing up, I was lucky enough to have parents that prioritized exposing my sister and I to a wide variety of cultures and cuisines. We tried everything from Korean bibimbop to authentic polish food to Ethiopian food (one of my favorites from this cuisine will always be gomen wat). Food brings everyone together and we found it to be a great way to meet new people and gain a greater respect and understanding for other cultures.

One of my all-time favorites was (and always will be) Ethiopian food. It’s the ultimate comfort food, a perfect melding of flavors and spices that leaves you feeling like you just got the biggest, warmest hug from your best friend. For so long, I relied on getting my fix of this soul-feeding food from restaurants (For my Michigan friends, the Blue Nile is a classic) and Ethiopian grocery stores. However, I soon realized that I very commonly make recipes from a variety of other cultures, so why can’t I make Ethiopian food, too?

If you read my last post, you know that I shared a pad thai inspired noodle dish, well, today you’re getting a gomen wat inspired dish! I have recently realized that many people I know haven’t tried this type of food before and really believe it’s something everyone should try.

What does Ethiopian Food consist of?

In short, Ethiopian food is generally eaten with your hands and commonly consists of warming, spiced stews. These stews commonly include either of the following: chicken, beef, lamb, fish, lentils or other legumes. They also include vegetables such as potatoes, collard greens, tomatoes, jalapenos, etc. Most famously, this food also includes injera, a spongey sourdough flatbread. Injera is an ancient form of bread that has been consumed since about 600 AD. One day, I hope to learn how to make this amazing bread and when I do, you’ll all be the first to know.

While I could write multiple blog posts about this topic, I believe it’s better explained by those that grew up eating this food. Here is a youtube video created by Insider Food that explores an Ethiopian Restaurant located in NYC.

Gomen Wat with pork and sourdough flatbread

I learned to make Gomen Wat form a youtube video created by the owner of an Ethiopian restaurant in NYC (New York is known to have MANY Ethiopian restaurants as people immigrated to the US). It’s a pretty simple recipe that makes amazing collard greens. While the recipe here makes a LOT of collard greens, the version below makes a smaller amount that feeds 4 people (or two people for 2 meals)

When I made this, I also added ground pork from a local farm to the mix to add some protein to this meal. Traditionally, it’s eaten as a side dish with a variety of other foods, but for simplicity, we decided to add the meat directly to the collard greens and LOVED how it turned out.

I also made a sourdough flatbread to go with this recipe since we didn’t have any Ethiopian grocery stores nearby to buy injera (and I wasn’t quite ready to attempt to make it). The flatbreads were extremely simple to make and are something I will post in the future as Steph continues her Sourdough series.

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch of collard greens
• 1 large white onion
• 4 garlic cloves (we LOVE garlic here, so do 3 if you aren’t as big of a fan)
• 1 inch of ginger
• 1 jalapeño
• 8 ounces of ground pork or beef
• 2 tbsp for cooking (we used olive oil when adding pork, but will likely add lard/tallow in the future if we do not add meat)

The Process – Gomen Wat Cooked In the Bus

1. Chop your onion, garlic, and ginger into rough chunks and place into a blender. Blend until smooth.
2. Wash and chop your collard greens into thin slices (see video for reference)
3. Heat a pot or deep pan (with a lid) on medium heat and add the onion mixture once the pan is hot.
4. Cook the onion mixture on medium head to remove excess water and stir regularly until it begins to turn green.
5. Once the onion mixture begins to turn green, add your oil and mix.
6. Begin to add the collard greens to the pot/pan. You likely won’t be able to fit all of them at once. Add a few handfuls, cover the pan/pot to steam the greens and add more after the greens begin to wilt.
7. roughly chop your jalapeno
8. Cook covered, mixing every few minutes. It should take about 40 minutes for the collard greens to cook down completely. To test, sample the collard greens, if they are crunchy or firm at all, they aren’t ready. They should be soft when complete.
9. When the collard greens are almost ready (soft leaves, but with still firm stems) add in your jalapeño. If you like it a bit spicy, keep the jalapeno in the mixture for the remainder of the cooking time. If not, keep the jalapeno in for just a few minutes before removing.
10. Either keep cooking until the greens are soft, or if you’re adding meat, add your raw meat directly into the pot at the same time as the jalapeno. Continue to cook covered until the meat is fully cooked and the collard greens are soft.
11. When in doubt, cook longer!!!