Key Wot (Siga Wot)

Key Wot (Siga Wot) Recipe ቀይ ወጥ (ሥጋ ወጥ) አሰራር

Ethiopian red beef stew in berbere sauce. About an hour.

What you need

The Ethiopian essentials

From your kitchen

  • Red onions, chopped (a lot)
  • Oil
  • Garlic
  • Lean beef, cubed
  • Salt
  • Warm water

How to make it

  1. Cook the onions. Chop a lot of red onions, by hand or in a food processor, which is easier at this amount. Cook them until a good part of their water has cooked off.
  2. Add the oil. Stir it into the onions.
  3. Add the berbere. Mix it in and let it cook.
  4. Keep adding warm water. A little at a time, all the way through, so it doesn't stick or burn.
  5. Add the garlic.
  6. Add the beef. Stir in the cubed beef.
  7. Add salt.
  8. Add more water. Once the beef is cooking, add more water and let it cook. The whole wot takes about an hour.
  9. Finish with niter kibbeh. Stir in the niter kibbeh at the end.
  10. Add mekelesha (optional). For a deeper, warmer flavor, stir in a pinch of mekelesha in the last few minutes of cooking.

Shop this recipe

Everything we make that goes into this dish. Add it all to your cart in one click.

Berbere (በርበሬ)
$15.99
Clarified Butter (ንጥር ቅቤ)
$31.99
Mekelesha (መከለሻ)
$9.99
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Key wot is only as good as its berbere. Our Berbere gives it its deep red color and slow heat, our Niter Kibbeh finishes it, and a pinch of Mekelesha at the end adds one more layer.

Good to know

Key wot and siga wot are two names for the same dish. Key means red and siga means meat, so people call it either one.

We make ours with lean red meat, without much fat. Some people like to add fat. Make it the way you like it.

Ethiopians cook by feel, not by measuring, so treat the amounts as a starting point.