I think it is only logical for me to conclude the posts for “Pomegranate Week” with one of the most delicious and intriguing Persian dishes: Khoresht Fesenjan.
I can’t honestly say that my love affair with this stew began during my childhood in Iran. Nop. It sure didn’t. The sight of it turned me off. Let’s be honest here, it is not one of the most good looking of dishes and if you don’t know what is in it, it can totally turn a person off. Lucky me, the first time I tried it in my adulthood was made by one of my paternal aunts. I firmly believe that she makes it the best. Seriously, she’s got the magic touch. I have to also say that it is a good thing that she likes to make it on the sour side, because if it was on the sweet side, I would have not loved this stew as much as I do. The fact that my aunt makes the best version of this stew became pretty evident to me as I was trying to make it in order to post it here. I first cooked based on the directions by two different Persian cookbooks. The result was just OK. Then when talking to my mom she reminded me that she had written down the recipe during a conversation with my aunt. Sure enough the second time that I made the recipe it was a mighty success! This goes to show you that technique is an important part of cooking. Woohoo!
I have to also share with you this story about Fesenjan that I don’t I will ever forget for the rest of my life. This story always cracks me up. I was at a friend’s house and her mom had offered to make Fesenjan. She was kind enough to make a vegetarian version since this was during my two year Pesco-Vegetarian stint. During the same evening my friend’s downstairs neighbors were having a party. We joined the party for a little while. I so happened to start a conversation with a guy who turned out to be half Persian and half American. He introduced me to his wife and we ended up talking about Persian food. We told her what was being made upstairs and got talking about how some Persian dishes can be converted into vegetarian.
If memory serves me correct the following is give or take the conversation that too place. Clutching her sleeping baby in her arm, she said: “Well, you could make Fesenjan with fish,” pause “doesn’t that sound good?!”
All I could think was: WHAT? Fish? NOOOOOO! But I chose to be gracious, and simply answered: “Oh, I don’t think that would be a good combination.”
She didn’t give up, “No really, you could add tuna to it.”
Seriously woman, please stop saying such things. All went through my mind in that moment was the image of emptying a can of tuna into Fesenjan. “Oh no, that sounds really bad. Those flavors don’t even go together, yak!” There were some seriously horrified looks being exchanged between my friend and I as this whole conversation was taking place.
“What I mean is fresh tuna not out of a can. I think it would be good.”
It is during times like these that it is not even worth arguing; you just give up because it is not even worth it. Seriously, Fesenjan is usually made with chicken. If you want to get fancy, you can even make it with duck. I love tuna, I really do. I love it in a can and I love it even more fresh. Actually, I REALLY LOVE it fresh. But Fesenjan and fish = not a good combination. As far as I am concerned it is perfectly nutritional in the vegetarian form, sure the chicken does make it better, but it just fine without it too.
So my vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free friends this recipe is made in such way that you all can enjoy it too!
Ingredients
8 chicken thigh pieces
1 onion
2 bay leaves
4 cups walnuts
1 tbsp flour*
1 cup pomegranate paste**
Here are our cast of characters: Walnuts and Pomegranate Paste. Pomegranate seeds are optional.
Toast the walnuts. Make sure they don’t burn. I am a firm believer in always toasting nuts.
Then place them on a baking sheet and let them cool down.
Once they have reached room temperature, grind them all up.
Vegetarian and Vegan folks please skip the next three steps. Proceed directly to the empty pot photo without collecting your $200 dollars!
Everyone else, please follow me.
Sauté onion until translucent.
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add to onion and cook for a few minutes.
Turn chicken pieces after a few minutes. Add bay leaves and 1/2 cup of water. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Vegetarian and Vegan folks, please join the group again! Warm up another pot and place 1 tbsp of flour. Toast the flour slightly.
Add 2 cups of water and mix well until all lumps are gone.
Add ground walnuts.
Stir until water and walnuts are thoroughly mixed. Cook on low.
Make sure you stay on top of it during this process. As the mixture thickens, it can easily burn. This process might take a little while. Once you see a layer of oil forming on top of the walnuts the hard work is pretty much done. You can actually see the oil rise through the bubbles.
Add pomegranate paste and mix well. Season with salt.
Vegetarian and Vegan folks, this is it for you! Just let your Fesenjan cook for a few more minutes.
Everyone else, please add chicken pieces making sure that each piece is submerged in the stew. Cook for a few minutes longer so that the flavors incorporate and chicken warms through.
Ya see the that booboo above? That’s what happens if you get distracted and leave the stew alone for too long. I learned that lesson the first time!
Serve Khoresht Fesenjan over rice. Pomegranate seeds can be added for added flavor and a pretty presentation.  If the stew is too sour, sugar may be added to sweeten it up a bit. Enjoy!
* Gluten-Free folks, please use GF Flour.
** Depending on which brand of Pomegranate Paste you use, the color of the stew may vary from a deep burgundy to brown. I have noticed that Sadaf’s Pomegranate paste is not dense, but slightly on the liquid side. Add a little more until the color adjusts to a deep burgundy. If the result is too tart, add more sugar.
Please click on the following links for other recipes featured in the “Pomegranate Week” 2009 edition:
April 11, 2014
hi i look at one of your video the lady make fesenjoon and add whole cranberry sauce i love it is new and unusall i love to make it but think my guest like or no are you try that recipe what you think . thanks fariba
April 25, 2014
Fariba, I have never made fesenjan with cranberry sauce or juice.
May 25, 2014
Very nice recipe! Works very well. My mother makes me add the chicken broth that is left over from cooking the chicken to the stew, and she also like to add some saffron so it smells good haha. My aunt tells me to add a cup of orange juice to give it more of a sweet-and-sour taste. So many options!!!
June 10, 2014
One of my veggie friends actually uses butternut squash to keep it veggie!
June 15, 2014
I didn’t have pomegranate paste so I substituted with cranberries. Even the Persians love it.
June 19, 2014
I just had this at a restaurant the other night and thought I would try making it at home, so this is good timing! Two questions: do you really leave the onions and bay leaf out of the veggie version? and is there any olive oil (at the restaurant it was slathered in olive oil – I didn’t know if that was traditional or not). Thanks so much!
June 19, 2014
Diana, yes I only use the onion and bay leaf to flavor the chicken while it tools. The olive oil on top may have been a personal touch by the restaurant, unless it was the oil from the walnuts.
June 20, 2014
Tuna and fesenjan? Grrrrrrrrrooooossssssssssss. I guess she had never tried fesenjan before? Because I can see why she would THINK it sounds good. I’ve had tuna salads with cranberries and stuff inside, and that tastes excellent. Maybe she was thinking that it would be like that. I don’t know. I’m warming up some fesenjan I bought at an Afghani market right now. It said it was vegetarian but apparently it’s not, because when I dumped it into the pan it had chicken. Fine by me either way! I finally purchased a food processor recently, so I will finally get to make my own fesenjoon. I live in America and my Ameh Latif lives in Iran and she showed me how to make fesenjoon one time when I went overseas to visit them. It’s one of the only memories I have with her so I always think about her when I eat it. Hopefully I will see her again soon and make her fesenjoon.
July 25, 2014
Hi, thanks for the recipe, do you have a rough estimation of how many servings this recipe makes?
August 6, 2014
Kat, about 4 to 6 servings.
October 24, 2014
Couldn’t you make fesenjan with tofu? If the tofu is frozen first, it has a consistency like chicken, and most of the flavor for this dish comes from the other ingredients. Add the tofu about 4-5 minutes before serving? Just to heat it thoroughly? Thanks!
October 28, 2014
Bill, I suppose you can also fry the tofu and add it to the stew.
November 15, 2014
Hi
I’ve got a bottle of Al Nabih pomegranate molasses from Lebanon.
Would the proportions of this be the same as the pomegranate paste you mentione above?
Thanks
November 17, 2014
My husband is iranian and also a very great cook! From him I’ve learned everything there is to learn about persian cooking, and developed a true love an passion for it, so much so that even our persian friends like my cooking! Which as we know it’s a big thing!
Also thanks to your wonderful website, I’ve managed to make him my own surprises and I have to say, your instructions give the true persian taste to the food!
For 3 years now we are pesco-vegetarians, but as we know the Persian kitchen has a lot of recipes which involves ghoosti 🙂
If you skip the ghoosti, you do get a very tasty dish but it will never be as good as the original recipe, and this goes for any kind of dish in general, so what we found is quite satisfying for us: Quorn! The chicken pieces or the hot dog sausages (for sosis bandari), we cook the “chicken pieces” before hand with advieh, how you would normaly cook the chicken, just the cooking time is half and then use them as the recipe indicates and it’s perfect! 😀 So today I will be doing this but I will be adding the “chicken” 😀
November 17, 2014
Warren, yes, the measurements remain the same.
December 19, 2014
Not bad!not bad
December 22, 2014
Has anyone tried making Khoresht Fesenjan in a Pressure Cooker?
Also, I don’t have Pomegranate Paste – Can I just use Pomegranate Juice?
December 22, 2014
Nancy, I don’t think Fesenjan can be made in a pressure cooker. It is best to use pomegranate paste as the juice will make the stew more liquid.
January 7, 2015
Hi…I love fesenjan…My hubby is Persian, but does not like this dish….I love it, and I’m going to make it for my kids and myself ;P
When I have had it at someone’s house in the past, it almost looked like “pulled bbq chicken”….can I take the chicken off the bone once it’s cooked? I distinctly remember that when I had seen it on the table, I thought, “doesn’t look very appetizing”, but once I tasted it, I was hooked
Thank you for your recipe! I hope you find time to respond 🙂
January 15, 2015
Miranda, yes, you can certainly take the meat off the bone and serve it that way.
May 2, 2015
Hi, tnx for your great receipe. My fesenjoon got a little bit bitter cuz I burned the walnut at the beginning 🙁
Is there any way I can reduce the bitterness?
May 25, 2015
Sadaf, you have to make sure that you don’t burn the walnuts. Not sure there is a way to get rid of the bitterness in the stew.
May 27, 2015
Hi, Thanks for an interesting recipe. I have never cooked Persian anything before and can’t wait to try this one. As a complete beginner I have a Duh! question for you. For the vegetarian version, can you cook it with a heap of chunky diced vegetables such as potato, sweet potato, eggplant, zucchini, turnips, swedes, taro etc.?
June 29, 2015
a few pointers:
– in my experience there is no way to get rid of burnt walnut taste. (personal experience) 🙁 So… don’t friggin’ burn it!
– for the veggi version you can use smoked or spiced tofu (or any kind of veggi/vegan meat replacement) and the onions. I haven’t tried the bay leaves, yet, though…
– most important: the pommegranate sirup comes in two flavours… sweetened and non-sweetened. be careful with the sugar, accordingly…
– you can strech / milden the koresht with squash / zucchini.
June 29, 2015
Debbie, you sure can, if you want to.
January 23, 2016
Hello!
I love your blog!!! I had this the other day at my husband’s childhood friend’s house. It was a snowy day and a perfect meal for friends. I would love to make it, but I was wondering (I read your previous comments but was unsure, so i’m sorry if it is a redundant question!) Do you throw away the onions totally when you are done cooking the chicken? or do you add it with the chicken and just get rid of the bay leaf? Thanks!
February 11, 2016
Jess, I throw away the onion and bay leaf. 🙂
April 11, 2016
How many people would this recipe feed please?
April 12, 2016
Hi, I am going to make this for about 20 people. should I double or triple the recipe?
thanks.
April 15, 2016
Nar, you can, although it might be tricky considering the amount of walnuts.
April 15, 2016
Narin, I’d say about 4 people.
March 1, 2017
About making fesenjan with fish, I imagine a mild white fleshed filet like the ubiquitous tilapia would work. It seems to have the appropriate texture.
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