Persian cuisine is one of the most underrated cuisines in the world, and it's hard when the best food is found only in a Persian home and not restaurants. Don't be deceived if the only Persian dishes you had was kebabs on a mountain of rice pilaf with a roasted whole tomato. Their cuisine is like their long history rich of culture and stories condensed into a single dish, with the use of fresh and dried fruits and delicate spices such as saffron, cardamon, turmeric and cinnamon. This is one of my favourite dish discovered on my trip to Iran a few years ago. It's a thick rich stew made with walnut paste and pomegranate juice and molasses gently simmered for a long time whch gives you a nutty, sweet, sour and savoury gravy that's so delicious that the chicken became a side dish to mop up the gravy.
(c) All photos taken by me on my trip to Iran.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 25min prep, 1.5hrs cooking
Serves: 4
The recipe for Fesenjen below is adapted from Najmieh Batmanglij's recipe in the book 'Food of Life'. I've paired the dish with a Walnut, Radish and Cucumber salad and rice.
I used both the traditional method of stewing the chicken in the sauce as well as sous-vide-ing chicken breast separately. I must say whilst the chicken stewed in the sauce gave the sauce the flavour, the sous vide chicken breast was so moist and juicy it was personally the perfect way to enjoy the sauce.
Ingredients
Fesenjen Stew
- 2 cups walnuts
- 4 tbsp oil
- 2 large onions sliced
- 1 chicken maryland
- 4 cups pomegranate juice
- 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 tsp ground cardamon
- 1/4 tsp saffron dissolved in 1 tbsp of water
- 2 tbsp grape molasses (or 1.5 tbsp dark brown sugar)
- salt
- pepper
Sous Vide Chicken Breasts
- 2 large chicken breasts
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Garnish
- 4 tbsp toasted walnuts finely chopped
- 1 cup pomegranate seeds
Persian Walnut Salad
- 1 cup walnuts lightly toasted
- 2 radishes thinly sliced
- 5 baby cucumbers thinly sliced
- 1 shallot thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup parsley chopped
- 1/4 cup mint chopped
- 1/4 cup dill chopped
- 1/4 tsp all spice
- 1 tbsp tarragon chopped
- 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
- 6 tbp olive oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
Method
1. Toast the walnuts for the stew and salad in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees for 10 minutes. Set aside.
2. Fry the sliced onions in oil in a cast iron pan until fully caramelised and softened.
3. Transfer the caramelised onions to a food processor. Add in 2 cups of toasted walnuts and 1 cup of pomegranate juice and blend it into a smooth paste. Add the pomegranate molasses, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamon, saffron dissolved in water.
4. In the same cast iron pan, brown the chicken maryland in oil before adding the remaining pomegranate juice, the walnut mixture, grape molasses or brown sugar, salt and pepper. Bring it to boil and simmer over low heat for 1.5 hours, checking and stirring regularly.
5. Season the chicken breasts well with salt and pepper before putting them into ziplock bags with olive oil to ensure the breasts are well coated. Sous vide the chicken in a hot water bath at 62.5 degrees for 1.5 hours.
6. Make the salad by mixing everything together and season to taste 10minutes before the chicken is ready.
7. To finish the stew, use a spoon to skim off any excess oil from the top of the stew. Taste and adjust seasoning (add more pomegranate juice if it's too sweet or too thick, add more sugar if it's too sour and season to taste.
8. Serve by slicing the chicken breasts and place it on a plate, topped with the sauce. Or serve the chicken maryland with the sauce. Enjoy!
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