Fesenjan
Khoresht-E-Fesenjan (Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce)
Fesenjan-e Bademjan
Fesenjan


Fesenjan

(Persian chicken in pomegranate-walnut sauce) Yield: 4-6 servings

Butter or oil
1/4 cup Chicken cut into serving pieces
2 1/2 to 3 lbs Onions sliced thinly
2 each Walnuts finely ground in a food processor
2 cups Stock or water
1 1/2 to 2 cups Pomegranate syrup (see notes)
2/3 cup Sugar
1 - 3 Tbsp Salt & pepper to taste

Saute Simmer Heat the butter or oil over medium heat in a large,
heavy-bottomed pot. Add the chicken pieces a few at a time and brown on
all sides. Remove to a plate. Add the onions and saute in remaining butter
or oil till translucent. Stir in the ground walnuts, stock or water and
browned chicken pieces. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer
20-30 minutes. Stir in the pomegranate juice, sugar, salt and pepper.
Taste and adjust seasoning. Sauce should have a balanced sweet-sour
flavor. Simmer another 15-20 minutes till chicken is tender, sauce is
somewhat thickened and the walnuts begin to give off their oil. Serve with
plain white rice.

VARIATIONS Use duck instead of chicken. Trim of all excess fat, and spoon
off excess fat as dish cooks. Pomegranate syrup, sometimes called
pomegranate molasses, is available in most Middle Eastern and health food
stores. If it is unavailable, you can use an equal amount of frozen,
concentrated cranberry juice. The flavor is roughly the same. If using
fresh pomegranate juice, use 1 1/2 to 2 cups and cut back on the stock or
water=2E Add 1/2 tsp ground cardamom or 1/2 tsp cinnamon when sauteing the
onions for a richer flavor. Add a little more sugar if the sauce is too
tart, a little bit of lime or lemon juice if it is too sweet. The chicken
can be marinated in a few squeezes of lime juice for a few hours if you
like. A peeled and cubed eggplant is sometimes added. Saute the eggplant
along with the onions. You may need to add a little more liquid to the
simmering stew. NOTES Fesenjan, also known as khoresht-e fesenjan, is
special occasion food in Iran. It is traditionally made with duck or
pheasant in the north of the country along the Caspian sea. It is a thick,
rich, sweet-sour dish that improves in flavor the next day.


Khoresht-E-Fesenjan (Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce)
Sanjiv Singh

This is a popular Persian dish. It is also very rich. Ben Motazed
recommends
that the dinner guests go for a long walk after a meal of
khoresht-e-fesenjan. Recipe from Persian Cooking: A table of Exotic
Delights

Serves 4-6.
2 large onions, chopped or sliced
5 tablespoon butter
1 large fryer chicken or 5 whole chicken breasts
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
4-5 tablespoon pomegranate syrup (or cranberry juice concentrate)
2 1/2 cups finely ground walnuts
2-3 tablespoons sugar
2-3 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon saffron (or turmeric)
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Saute the onions in 2 tablespoon of the butter until golden brown. Remove
from the pan. Add 3 more tablespoon of butter and saute the chicken pieces
until light brown. Add the bouillon and sauted onions. cover and simmer
gently for 30 minutes. Bone the chicken. Prepare the sauce by stirring
the water into the ground walnuts. Stir in the pomegranate syrup and
sugar, and simmer gently over a low heat for 10-15 minutes. Combine the
cooked, boned chicken and most of its drippings with the walnut sauce; add
the seasonings and the lemon juice; cover and simmer gently for another
hour. Adjust the seasonings by adding a little sugar if too sour, or more
pomegranate syrup if too sweet. The chicken pieces should be coated with a
rich, dark, sweet-sour sauce; there should be plenty of thick sauce. Serve
with rice.



Fesenjan-e Bademjan
(Eggplant & Pomegranate Braise)

Queen Esther, the Persian queen who is the heroine of the Purim holiday,
kept her Jewish background hidden while living in the Court of King
Ahashuerus. It is now suggested that she may have done this by eating a
vegetarian diet. It is this reason, as well to as give hope to Jewish
vegetarians everywhere looking for tasty special occasion recipes for
Jewish holidays, that this main course Purim dinner recipe is included in
our Purim recipe files. This eggplant dish with a honey walnut sauce is
exotic. the walnuts are used as a thickening agent, the pomegranates for
sourness, and the honey as a sweetener. the result is a delicate
sweet-and-sour flavor that is typically Persian. Asian eggplants,
pomegranate juice and pomegranate paste are available at Iranian market
and the Middle Eastern or Ethnic specialty sections of some major grocery
stores. Peel eggplants and remove stems. Salt, let sit for at least 20
minutes, rinse and squeeze out water. Slice into 1 in. thick rounds.
Heat 4 Tbsp. oil in deep skillet over medium heat. Add eggplant, and saute
on all sides about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove eggplants from
skillet and drain on paper towels and set aside. Add remaining oil to
skillet and reheat over medium heat. Add onion and saute until golden
brown (10-14 minutes). Add garlic for last few minutes of browning onions
and continue cooking. add cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, turmeric, crushed
red pepper, parsley, cilantro (or lemon basil or fresh oregano) and fresh
mint and saute for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Grind walnuts in food processor until very fine, or else sauce will be
gritty. Combine walnuts with diluted pomegranate paste and honey, as
needed, and stir until sauce is smooth. Pour sauce into skillet. Return
eggplants and seasoning to skillet, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer
mixture for 30 minutes or until eggplants are tender, stirring
occasionally with a wooden spoon. If sauce is too sour, add more honey or
brown sugar to taste. Spoon onto serving dish or plates, and garnish with
herb leaves and pomegranate seeds, or any combination of the optional
garnishes of friend eggplant rounds or crispy onions. Serve with couscous
or rice , warm flat bread and a fresh green salad.




Fesenjan

5 Asian eggplants (2 lb.) or 2 large regular eggplants with bitterness
removed**
6 Tbsp olive oil
1 med. size onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tsp. ground. cumin
1/4 tsp. ground. cinnamon
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. ground. turmeric
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 cup. chopped fresh parsley
2 cups. chopped cilantro leaves, (substitute with lemon basil or fresh
oregano if you hate cilantro like I do)
1/2 cup. chopped fresh mint
2 cup. (1/2 lb.) toasted walnuts
1/2 cup. pomegranate paste diluted with 2 1/2 cupa. water or 3 cups.
pomegranate juice
1 Tbsp honey (blackberry honey is a yummy choice !) or brown sugar, as
needed
for garnish
1 cup. cilantro leaves, basil or parsley
1 cup. pomegranate seeds (about 2 pomegranates)
fried eggplant rounds, fried cilantro or basil leaves and fried onion
rings
(optional)


I prefer the Asian eggplants for this recipe, well, always, actually,
because I hate seedy eggplant, but if you must use the larger,
Italian/Western kind, cut into pieces and soak in a container of water
with 2 Tbsp salt for 20 minutes, rinse thoroughly, then squeeze the water
out with a towel. This part of the process is less important for the Asian
eggplants than for the other kind, which are more bitter, and need to be
washed and salted to take the bitterness away.With Asian eggplants, you
can just let sit for 20 minutes with salt on top of them, then rinse and
squeeze--the soaking is unnecessary. Remember, the more water you squeeze
out of eggplant, the more room it has to absorb the sauce you are cooking
in

hope these help
Linda in Tennessee


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