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Tsebhi Derho

A chicken stew with berbere, tomato, onions, and hard‑boiled eggs served with injera.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Tsebhi Derho

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the chicken into pieces and drain them well.

  2. Sprinkle the pieces with a mixture of lemon juice and salt and marinate for 30 minutes.

Make the sauce

  1. Fry the onions lightly over low heat in a frying pan. Do not use butter or oil.

  2. Add some water if necessary to prevent burning or sticking.

  3. When the onions are done, add the berbere and fry briefly.

  4. Add the tegelese tesmi and fry the mixture for 5 minutes.

  5. Add the tomato paste, peeled and sliced tomatoes, garlic, and ginger, and simmer for 20 minutes over low heat, stirring regularly to prevent sticking.

Cook and serve

  1. Add some water and the chicken pieces and simmer until the chicken is cooked.

  2. Add the eggs to the sauce shortly before serving.

  3. Serve with injera.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

341Calories
41 gProtein
10 gFat
23 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main protein; simmering in the sauce until cooked makes it tender and flavourful.
Onions
Cooked slowly until soft, they build the sweet, savoury base of the sauce.
Tomatoes
Break down into the sauce, adding moisture, body and acidity.
Hard boiled eggs
Already set, they hold their shape and add richness as they warm in the sauce.
Tomato paste
Concentrates the tomato flavour and deepens colour and body in the sauce.
Berbere chili paste
Supplies the chili heat and spice aroma that define the sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the onions without fat. Onions cooked dry over low heat can scorch before they soften and release sweetness. Adding water as needed keeps them moving and browning gently, and the berbere is added only after they are done so its spices do not burn.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, garlic, lemon, tomato, chicken, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, garlic, lemon, tomato, chicken, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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