Fesenjan is usually a chicken dish with a thick stew-textured sauce that you serve over rice. It is traditionally made with chicken breast, but because I LOVE dark meat (so does lil man), I updated the recipe to be less stew-like and go with whole chicken legs!
Keep reading for my Fesenjan (chicken with walnut and pomegranates) recipe!
What you need:
- 2tbsp grapeseed oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 4 chicken whole legs (or breast)
- 1 onion, minced
- 1 serrano pepper, minced
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/3 cup pomegranate puree
- 1tbsp tomato paste
- 2tbsp lemon juice
- 1tbsp honey
- 1/4 tsp saffron, infused with 1/3 cup hot water
Directions:
Infuse saffron in 1/3 cup hot water and set aside.
Heat oil in a large pan and brown the chicken legs on each side. Add half of the onion and serrano pepper, fry for 2-3 minutes. Pour in water, bring to boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in separate pan, saute remaining onion until translucent. Add chopped walnuts, and fry for 2-3 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently so walnuts don’t burn. Stir in the pomegranate and tomato purees, lemon juice, honey and saffron liquid. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.
Pour the walnut sauce over chicken. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, until meat is cooked.
Serve over rice. Now go FK on it!
Would this work with tofu?
It would work with tofu! Just make the sauce separate and add fried tofu at the end!