Fesenjan

Sugar should be added to taste. Sometimes the pomegranate molasses is too sour and it requires more sugar. Add about a cup of orange juice or a peel of an orange while the stew is simmering (remove before serving). It adds amazing yet subtle flavor. That's how my mom does it and she is famous for her delicious fesenjoon.

I made this according to the recipe, and it was inedible. Months later, I tried again with 1/2 cup pomegranate molasses, more squash, and only 1 cup of walnuts (to reduce the calories), and it was great.

This is DELICIOUS with some (minor) tweaks.
Suggestions:
- Toast the walnuts in the bottom of your Dutch oven then set aside.
- In same Dutch oven, heat oil, brown chicken, set aside.
- Cook onions (in same Dutch oven; one pot meal!) for 8-10 minutes; add walnuts for a few minutes more; then add rest of the ingredients with ~2 cups of stock.
- Briefly remove chicken and immersion blend the sauce before serving.
- I started with 1/2c of molasses, then added to taste. Used ~1c.

Instead of cinnamon and saffron, turmeric is good, as are a lot more onions - and then one doesn't need any sugar. There was a time when we could not find pomegranate molasses and boiled down a quart or more of pomegranate juice.

I don't know if it's a typo, but this recipe calls for twice as much pomegranate molasses as needed. It should be only 1 cup. Pomegranate molasses is very strong and sour, and after using 2 cups. I found this recipe inedible. Even after adding quite a bit of sugar, I just couldn't eat it. Too bad, because it's a fairly expensive dish to make. My Iranian husband, who refuses to throw food away, ate it.

This looks delicious! I can hardly wait to try it. One suggestion: Not everyone knows what Persian steamed rice is or how to fix it. A link to a source would be helpful. Never underestimate the depth or breadth of knowledge of "your" cooks.

Too much pomegranate molasses. Use half and taste before you dump in the full 2 cups. Very difficult to go from tart/sour to sweet without adding too much sugar.

More squash can be added for those who want to mellow the pomegranate tartness. Also, sweetening with pitted dates instead of sugar layers in a lovely complementary dimension.

Persian rice - soak 1 cup of good quality basmati rice per two people. Wash several times. Fry rice in about a tablespoon of oil until it is coated and smells nutty but is still white, then add 1.5 cups of water for each cup of rice and good salt. Bring to the boil, turn down to very low - put a clean tea towel around the underneath of the saucepan lid. this steams the rice. Switch off and leave to steam for another 10 minutes. Add fried juniper berries for Persian yumminess!

-First, I browned the chicken on sauté function, then set aside. -Added walnuts, sautéed for 2-3 minutes. -Add onion, butternut squash and cinnamon for a few minutes. -Then add pomegranate molasses (I also cut the amount down to 2/3c), saffron, and stock or water. -Add the chicken back in and set pressure to 10 minutes.

I have tried other fesenjan recipes, and this is the only one that duplicates the flavor of fesenjan at my favorite Iranian/Persian restaurant.

In Step 3, be sure to let the sauce simmer until oil rises to the top.

When my sauce was finished, it was too grainy because I did not pulverize the walnuts fine enough to start. This was easily remedied by pulsing the sauce with an immersion blender.

I stirred a generous amount of chopped fresh dill into the white rice before serving.

Love Sam Sifton but 2 cups of sour molasses is simply insane. Use half a cup max.

This dish didn't turn out for me and I'm not sure why. First of all it was black in color not the reddish color of the photo. Secondly the overwhelming flavor was the sweet pomegranate molasses. I could of just poured it over grilled chicken and it would of tasted the same. I followed the directions so if someone has any thoughts please respond - thanks

I followed the suggestions of other reviewers and reduced the pomegranate molasses to a half cup for 2 pounds chicken. I think I’ll up it to 3/4 next time. My chicken (both breast and thighs) cooked faster than the recipe suggested so the sauce may have needed more time. I didn’t worry too much about the walnut skins and only used 1.5 cups. My family enjoyed it and my somewhat fussy 6 year old loved it! A great recipe and I will make again.

My Iranian college roommate taught me to make this dish; she used much less pomegranate syrup, maybe 1/2 cup max, ground cardamom seeds in addition to the saffron and cinnamon, but the biggest and most necessary difference is that she would simmer it for 4 hours, even up to 6 hours. Low and slow, the longer the better. It completely transforms the taste of the dish, the depth of flavor is like nothing else.