At Home: Chicken Stewed with Walnuts and Pomegranate Molasses
One of the joys of working in such an international office (employees from 37 countries and counting) is that we share ingredients from different cultures. So when I talked to Behnaz, who is from Iran, about my love of za'atar, she wanted me to try cooking with pomegranate molasses, something she is familiar with from her homeland.
She brought me a bottle of pomegranate molasses and this recipe, which is written by Yasmin Khan and posted on the BBC Food website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/yasmins_fesenjoon_91487).
I cooked it last night and made some adjustments to make it work for me and the supplies that I can buy here in Amsterdam. It was so good that my Dutch friend said that he thinks it's the best thing I've ever cooked for him.
I served it with brown basmati rice and a couple of Moroccan salads, eggplant with tomato and garlic and sweet potatoes with onions and green olives.
Prep and cooking time: 3-1/2 hours
Serves:
Ingredients:
- 250g/9oz walnut halves
- 2 ice cubes
- 125ml/4½fl oz pomegranate molasses
- 1 can (70 g/2 tablespoons) concentrated tomato paste
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sugar, plus extra to taste
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 800g/1¾ lbs chicken thighs, skinless and boneless
- pomegranate seeds, to garnish (optional)
Directions:
Grind the walnuts as finely as possible with a mortar and pestle. (Ideally you can use a food processor, but I don't currently have one.)
Transfer the ground walnuts to a large, lidded casserole and add 1 litre/1¾ pints of cold water. Bring the mixture to the boil and boil for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat until the mixture is just simmering. Leave half covered by the lid of the pan for 1 hour.
Add an additional 200ml/7fl oz of cold water and 2 ice cubes, and continue cooking for 1 more hour, stirring occasionally throughout to make sure the walnuts don’t stick to the bottom of the casserole. After the 2 hours of cooking, the walnut sauce should have thickened and darkened in colour.
Stir in the pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and pepper until well combined. Return the mixture to a simmer.
Add the chicken thighs, stir, then replace the lid and continue to simmer gently over a low heat for another 50 minutes.
Remove the lid for 10 more minutes of cooking to allow the sauce to thicken some more.
Optionally, garnish with a handful of pomegranate seeds.
