Feasting on Fesenjan

Before Brian flew home for vacation, we made fesenjan, a traditional Iranian chicken dish that's packed with walnuts, pomegranate, and a wide array of spices.

We have little experience making Iranian food, but I am a huge fan of it. HUGE. Every now and again, I go on a pilgrimage to The Pomegranate (418 College St) for some adas polo and rosewater yogurt, which were always pure bliss in my mouth.

Unfortunately,  I never had the pleasure of trying fesenjan during any of my previous visits even though I've heard a lot about it, especially from my former colleagues, who were originally from Iran. I imagined it would be similar to the adas polo: rich in flavour and a delight to the senses.

POM juice to be cooked down to molasses

Peel-ahead arils!

Brian and I had been talking about making more hearty meals, so when it came time to pick a recipe, fesenjan quickly came to mind. We found a recipe from the Minimalist Baker, which sounded easy enough to make and also to shop for. We only had trouble looking for pomegranate molasses, and for Brian, the pomegranate itself. For the former, we resorted to pomegranate juice as the recipe suggested, and for the latter, well, Brian did away with it altogether. It was only a garnish (albeit a beautiful one) anyway.

Pre-food processor

Post-food processor

Pomegranate molasses: On high heat to really cook it down

3 out of 4 burners going!

The actual experience of cooking fesenjan was as we expected: a breeze. There was a rhythm to making it, and we fell into it naturally. The whole process took just over two hours, with the most time-consuming parts probably being the preparation of the molasses (which we left cooking on the stove while we worked on the other parts of the recipe) and the walnuts step (and that's only if you don't have a food processor).

Almost...

There! 

What came out of our casseroles that evening was an extremely fragrant and rich stew... A sweet and savoury dish rolled into one. I am a sucker for anything nut-based, and I definitely loved the nuttiness of the walnuts paired with the sweetness of the pomegranate molasses. It was nothing short of divine; I really could have gobbled it all up.

I plated my delightful fesenjan on top of a bed of rice for my family, and I got two out of three nods of approval! My dad wasn't too keen on it, but it's fine. I'll take whatever yeses I can get. ;-)