Tehran On A Plate

I attract three ethnicities more than others: Germans, Mexicans and Iranians. Yeah, I realize that is a little odd. But so am I, so there.

At one point, when I lived in Houston, I was dating an Iranian, my boss was Iranian and two of my neighbors were Iranian. It was my Tehran phase. It was interesting to be accidentally submerged into another culture.

The Iranian I dated, Tariq, loved three things: playing soccer, drinking vodka and cooking. Ok, not really cooking, more like instructing others how to cook. Always the willing student, I learned how to cook Tariq's favorite dish, which has now, after a few modifications, become one of my favorite dishes.



Fesenjam
(chicken with pomegranate and walnuts)

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 onion, chopped
• olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 t black pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 c pomegranate molasses
• 1/2 c walnuts, finely ground

Sautee onion in oil over medium heat until transparent, remove onion. Crank up heat to high and sear chicken breasts on both sides. Lower heat to low, add back onions. Add lemon juice, pepper and chicken stock. Simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add walnuts, pomegranate molasses and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Serve with rice, pomegranate and walnuts.

You can find Pomegranate Molasses at your neighborhood middle eastern store or you could sub POM, the pomegranate juice in the funky bottle.

The rice in the picture is just basmati with a handful of toasted pinenuts and a handful of dried currants.

On a side note, I remembered tonight, while I was making this, that Tariq actually gave me the cookware I used as a Christmas present. Tariq is Muslim, therefore Christmas meant absolutely nothing, leading me to believe there might have been a hidden agenda there. Hmmm, lol :)

Persian
Fesenjam