Shurro Wat (Ethiopian Bean Stew)

I have a confession to make.  When we met with our social worker a while back at an Ethiopian restaurant I bought this little container called Shirro, and thought it was going to end up in the garbage.  The owner is from Ethiopia and he was explaining how to use it and it sounded utterly disgusting when he told me how to use it.  All shirro is, is a powder made from dried and ground up beans.   But you then mix it with onions, oil, and water and turn it into stew.  It just sounds terrible.  But I decided that we need to get used to Ethiopian food (and all kinds of Ethiopian food!) because I won't know what Josiah's favorite comfort foods are until we meet him, and I better know how to fix his favorites when he comes home!
So, we tried it tonight, and I actually made a mistake and added spices that were supposed to go in the lentil stew...but not only did it work, it was really tasty!  I'm actually looking forward to making this on Sunday afternoons now!  And it's so simple!  It's probably supposed to be thicker than mine, but I wasn't sure...it was still yummy!

Little fact for the day - Ethiopians fast from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays, so their main source of fat comes from cooking oil.  So, in typical recipes (this one included), Ethiopians would put about 1/2 CUP of oil in it...but since we get our fat from, well, EVERYWHERE here in the states, I'm omitting most of the oil!

Shurro Wat (Ethiopian Bean Stew)

Ingredients:
2 onions, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
4-5 Tbsp Shirro (bean flour)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardemom
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp Berbere
 water
3 tsp crushed garlic

Directions:
 1.  Heat onions and oil in sauce pan over medium heat until onions are soft.
2.  Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil with the lid on.
3.  Whisk in shirro until fully incorporated.  If needed, add another 1/2 to 1 cup of water to thin the consistency (I didn't have to do this!).  Cover and cook.
4.  Add salt and other spices and garlic; mix well.
5.  Cover and cook again.  When thick, turn off burner, remove from heat, and cover.  Let sit for about 15 minutes before eating.