Editing Ethiopian feast

When I cook Ethiopian, I usually cook several dishes that include:

* '''Messer wot (M)''': A spiced lentil stew traditionally served only slightly spicy. Since I often don't have access to shiro (traditionally the hotter vegetarian dish),  I often cook messer wot so that it is very spicy.
* '''Gomen wot (G)''': Collard greens sautéed in a spicy ''wot'' sauce.
* '''Shiro wot (S)''': A spicy dish made of ground yellow split-pea flour (available [http://www.ethiopianspices.com EthiopianSpices.com online]).
* '''Potato, cabbage, tomato alicha (A)''': A non-spicy dish flavored primary with tumeric.
* '''Mushroom "tibs" (T)''': A vegetarian take on a popular sautéed meat dish usually made with lamb or beef.

I prepare all of these dishes completely vegan. In Ethiopian, they are often prepared with clarified butter instead of oil.

== Ingredients ==

* Diced Garlic (lots!) (MGSA)
* Diced Onions (quite a few!) (MGSA)
* Red ''and'' green lentils (I use roughly a 1:3 ratio although I've done it with entire red and entirely green and both were good) (M)
* Chopped Potatoes (A)
* Chopped Cabbage (I prefer green/yellow cabbage on purely visual grounds) (A)
* Chopped Tomato (A)
* Chopped Collard greens (G)
* Diced Green chili peppers (T)
* Chopped Mushrooms (e.g., portabella) (T)
* White wine vinegar (T)
* Salt (everything)
* Vegetable oil (traditionally clarified butter or ''ghee'');

You'll also need the following spices (available at [http://www.ethiopianspices.com EthiopianSpices.com]):

* Berbere (hot red spice that's essential, in large quantities to wot) (MG)
* Mitmita (hotter spice used in kitfo or to add heat to a dish) (T)
* Tumeric (A)

== Making Wot (e.g., Shiro, Messer, or Gomen) ==

Wot is the national dish of Ethiopia and it is very easy to make. It's similar to a curry in basic preparation. To start, you need to make a ''wot base'' which will be used in any wot based dish. This is pretty simple:

# Dice garlic and onions. Smaller is better, if possible, but onions under 1cm squared should be fine, if not ideal.
# Pour a very liberal amount of oil into a pan and sautee the onions and garlic. These should be cooked for a long time on medium heat until they are nearly beyond recognition but not burned.
# Mix berberre into the oil/onion mix (add more than you think you need until is a a deep, dark red).

Now either put the wot base aside, or (if you were clever) take the other ingredients for wot you've been cooking in parallel, and mix it together with the wot base to taste. If you've done it right, you will have the right amount of spiciness in your dish. Since this rarely happens (at least at first), you'll need to put more berberre in at this point. Be careful to stir well and to sprinkle it in slowly; it can clump!

For '''messer wot''', I boil the lentils for 40 minutes or so (until soft) before adding the base.

For '''gomen wot''', I add the chopped collards right into a well oiled pan and cook with the top on.

For '''shiro wot''', I boil water, add shiro power, and add wot base, oil, and salt when it becomes very viscous.

Finally, add oil and salt to taste!

== Making Alicha ==

I put the potatoes in oil in a large pan or wok first since they take the longest to cook. When they are beginning to get soft, I'll add the chopped cabbage. When it is soft, add turmeric liberally and salt to taste. It should become a soft, brilliant yellow in color. When it looks down, turn down the heat and stir in tomatoes. Don't add them too early or they will liquefy.