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Atakilt Wat – Ethiopian Cabbage Potato Carrots. Easy spiced side full of amazing flavor. free of Dairy, egg, corn, soy, yeast, nut, gluten, grain.
Seattle has an abundance of Ethiopian food. After Indian, Ethiopian is always the next choice when we want some spice and deep flavors in the meal. The veggie platter filled with 2 to 4 different simmered lentil dishes, greens, simmered okra, cabbage pcarrot wat, all served up over the huge Injera. There are several Ethiopian restaurants in Seattle. A lot of them however are usually a miss when it comes to maintaining the taste and quality of the food. Or maybe I am picky 🙂 Seattle-lites, what is your favorite Ethiopian restaurant?
Atakilt Wat/ Atkilt wot is a cabbage side that is so close to the Indian cabbage dishes and yet has its own flavor profile. The traditional recipe may or may note use uses niter kibeh which is butter/ghee slow-infused with whole spices like cardamom, cinnamon, fenugreek, cloves, ginger, garlic etc. by cooking everything on low heat for hours. You can make niter qibe/ kibeh with coconut or olive oil(see my second book for a recipe) and use about a Tbsp in this recipe instead of all the spices and oil. Since I don’t usually have the infused oil ready, I add the spices to oil in the second step to infuse the oil while cooking (indian food style) for my interpretation of atakilt wat. You can omit the spices. Cook the dish at lower heat for best results. Serve with Ethiopian flat breads or other flat breads and lentil stews.
More Ethiopian from the blog.
Steps:
cook the onion, garlic, ginger for 5 minutes.
Add all the spices and cook to infuse the oil to make a quick niter kibeh.
Add the veggies, cover and cook until tender.
Serve hot.
Video:
Atakilt Wat - Ethiopian Cabbage Potato Carrots. Vegan Gluten-free Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil or vegan butter, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 green chili, chopped (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds or powder
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/8 tsp cloves powder
- a generous dash of black pepper
- 3/4 cup sliced carrots
- 2 medium potatoes, chopped, 1.5 loaded cups
- 1/2 head of cabbage, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a large skillet, add 1 tsp oil and heat at medium-low. Once hot, Add garlic, ginger, chili, and onion. Mix, cook for 4 minutes.
- Add the cumin, turmeric, fenugreek seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. Mix and cook for 3 minutes to infuse the oil and to continue cooking the onion to golden.
- Add the carrots, potato and mix well. Add cabbage and 1/4 tsp salt. Mix well, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Stir once in between.
- Add 1/4 tsp or more salt, and 1 tsp olive oil. Mix in. Deglaze at this time with water if needed Cover and Cook for another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. *
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Folks, this recipe is REAL DEAL Ethiopian food goodness. If you want authentic this is where it’s at.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I did use ghee; I chopped the onions super fine and infused the ghee and onion w fresh garlic and ginger.
I am fortunate to be near a good Ethiopian market where they make Berbere spice mix— it can cut the prep time if you’re able to get some! I used two TBSP Berbere spice mix.
This was SO yummy! I am gonna get some injera soon as make this again to enjoy 🙂
🙂 thank you so much, Deb!
This was delicious! The spices were warm and a great compliment to the vegetables. If you aren’t familiar with Ethiopian cooking, the spice profile reminded me of Indian dishes. It was a huge hit with my family. We are making it again today. I’m looking forward to trying other recipes on this site.
yay! thank you, Gracie!
The combination of spices created a wonderful fusion of smells in our kitchen. I also added lentils and switched to sweet potatoes for protein and less starch and sugars. Just a great recipe
thank you, Dave!
So flavourful and easy to make!
thank you!
I don’t think there is anything wrong with your recipe, but I just wasn’t crazy about this dish. That being said I also didn’t have Fenugreek, so that might have made a difference. I tried a bit of mustard powder instead. The spice combination is very strong and it just wasn’t for me. I did like how easy it was to make and how inexpensive, provided you have the spices on-hand since those are pricey.
Thank you for your feedback, Carol!! I hope you can find something on the site you enjoy more – keep me posted! Maybe the snickerdoodle cookies, or even the Swedish Meatballs? Let me know what you think!
Such an amazing dish. I can’t get enough.
In my opinion this meal requires TONS of salt to get the perfect flavor profile…not sure why…I’m not one to typically salt my dishes heavily. Regardless…Perfection.
I make this a lot. I started adding mung beans for some protein and I use berbere spice blend instead of individual spices which makes it easier for me.
Yum!
This turned out so good! I omitted the potatoes (didn’t have any) and added a couple cups of cooked red lentils (wanted protein but was too lazy to cook a separate wot dish)
Great idea Emily.
This was amazing. I used baby red potatoes cut in half, but otherwise stuck to the recipe precisely. What a treat.
Sounds delicious.
Kokeb never disappointed back in the day, but, sadly, is long gone. I don’t live in Seattle anymore (live in Tacoma), so don’t often make it to Ethiopian restaurants. I made the trek recently and tried Delish and thought it was excellent. I ate at Blue Nile about 3 years ago and thought it was really good at the time. Enat Kitchen in Portland got my business several times about 5 years ago, and was the best Ethiopian I’d ever had!
Enat Kitchen is my fave!!!