Beejhy’s Shiro – Ethiopian Stew

When I first moved to the United States, shiro powder was nearly impossible to find. Going without this beautiful, nutritious chickpea stew was simply not an option for me: Its smooth texture was something I longed for at every family meal. So I developed my own version that uses canned chickpeas, blended in a food processor, but that still captures all the silkiness of the original. It takes longer to come together than shiro made with the powder, but the food processor does most of the work.

Excerpted with permission from GURSHA: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens, from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and Beyond.

Beejhy’s Shiro – Ethiopian Stew

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs

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Servings

10 Servings

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 4 medium red onions quartered, soaked briefly in water (to reduce the astringency), and drained
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger about a 1½-inch piece ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 4 cloves
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons Berbere recipe to make your own
• 2½ teaspoons fine sea salt plus more to taste
• 2 teaspoons black pepper plus more to taste
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 4 15.5-ounce cans chickpeas, undrained 

Instructions

• In a food processor, process the onions, ginger, and garlic to make a thick paste.
• Pour into a large pot, bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook until most of the water has evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir in the oil and simmer for another 10 minutes. Stir in the berbere, 2 teaspoons of the salt, and 1½ teaspoons of the pepper. Simmer, stirring and scraping constantly, until the mixture is deep red and thickened and the onions are melting into each other, 15 to 20 minutes, adding a few tablespoons of water to help loosen anything sticking to the bottom of the pot.
• Add the tomato paste. Fill half of the empty tomato paste can with water, scrape the remaining paste off the sides of the can into the water, and pour that into the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer until the tomato paste melts into the base, adding up to another cup of water to help integrate the two if necessary, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a clean food processor bowl, blend the chickpeas and their liquid until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes. You cannot overblend the chickpeas, so take your time!
• Pour the chickpeas into the pot. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently and adding water if necessary, until the mixture is creamy and silky, 25 to 30 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve warm.
• From GURSHA: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens, from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and Beyond © 2025 by Tevletz Barhany-John. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.