Persian Chicken Or Duck In Pomegranate Walnut Sauce (fesenjan)

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup oil
• 2 1/2-3 lbs chicken (cut up, bone-in) or 2 1/2-3 lbs duck (cut up, bone-in)
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 2 cups walnuts, finely ground in a food processor
• 1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock or 1 1/2-2 cups water
• 2/3 cup pomegranate syrup (see notes in description if using juice)
• 2 -3 tablespoons sugar
• kosher salt, to taste
• fresh ground pepper, to taste

Recipe

• 1 sprinkle meat with lime juice and allow to marinate for 1-4 hours.
• 2 over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot heat an 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) of the butter or oil until shimmering.
• 3 add the chicken/duck pieces a few at a time and brown on all sides. remove to a plate.
• 4 add onions (and eggplant if using - see notes in description) and sauté in remaining butter or oil until translucent.
• 5 stir in ground walnuts and saute for 1/2 a minute.
• 6 add stock or water and browned chicken/duck pieces. bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 20-30 minutes.
• 7 stir in the pomegranate juice, sugar, salt and pepper.
• 8 taste and adjust seasoning. sauce should have a balanced sweet-sour flavor. see notes to adjust.
• 9 simmer another 15-20 minutes until the chicken/duck is tender, sauce is somewhat thickened and the walnuts begin to give off their oil. serve with plain rice.