Khoresht-e Fesenjan: Lamb or Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce

I've made this with chicken and lamb, and have tweaked the spices, quantities, and procedure slightly. If using lamb, be careful that the rich sauce and spices doesn't overpower the mild flavor of the meat. This is a very rich dish and will feed about 8 with the proportions given.  1.5 hours cooking time

Fesenjan served with basmati tahdig

Adapted from a recipe posted by Emma Fernlund (thanisa@df.lth.se), from Persian Cooking: A Table of Exotic Delights, by Nesta Ramazani 1974, ISBN 0-8139-0962-7.

Serves: 8

2 large     Onions, chopped or sliced 

5 Tbsp     Butter 

2.5 pound   Chicken or Lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 cup     Chicken, Lamb, or Veal Stock

2 1/2 cups  Walnuts, ground: some fine, some corn-kernel size

1 cup       Water

4.5 Tbs     Pomegranate Syrup (substitute sour cranberry juice) 

2-3 Tbsp    Sugar 

2-3 tsp     Salt 

1/2 tsp     Saffron (or turmeric) 

1/4 tsp     Cinnamon (ground from stick instead of pre-ground)

1/4 tsp     Nutmeg 

1/4 tsp     Pepper 

2 Tbsp     Lemon juice

6 pods     Cardamom, ground

3     Cloves, ground

Saute the onions in 2 Tbsp of the butter until golden brown.

Remove from the pan.

Add 3 more Tbsp of butter and saute the chicken/lamb pieces until lightly browned.

Drain fat.

Add the Stock and sauteed onions.

Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Bone if needed.

While that's cooking...

Grind the Walnuts to a mix of sizes;  the texture too thick if ground uniformly fine. 

Toast the ground walnuts in a saucepan or skillet until aromatic.

Prepare the sauce by stirring the water into the ground walnuts.

Stir in the pomegranate syrup and sugar, and simmer gently over a low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Roughly grind the walnuts

Add the walnut sauce to the cooked, chicken/lamb and onions.

Add the seasonings and the lemon juice.

Cover and simmer gently for another hour.

Adjust the seasonings by adding a little sugar if too sour, or more pomegranate syrup if too sweet.

The chicken/lamb pieces should be coated with a rich, dark, sweet-sour sauce; there should be plenty of thick sauce.

Serve with rice, preferably Tahdig. Couscous also works well, as would unleavened bread.

Basmati rice tahdig

"Thaidig": a Thai variation on Persian crunchy rice

We really enjoyed Samin Nosrat's Tahdig, a foolproof way of getting crunchy Persian rice. We wanted to see if we could take it somewhere untraditional, with Thai flavors and asian rice. It worked really well, the flavor combination and the additions to the rice made for a fun and satisfying meal. 

Our first question was whether Jasmine rice would crunchify like Persian Basmati rice; with Samin's yogurt hack, this was a definite "yes".  For the Thai flavor, we started with coconut milk, then added chilis, galangal, and some salmon we had.  This made plenty for four people as a complete dinner.

Crunchy top conceals coconutty rice with salmon and squash

  2 C      Jasmine Rice
  4 Quart  Water
1/3 C      Kosher Salt

  1 C      Coconut Milk
  1 Tbs    Thai Shrimp Paste
  1 piece  Galangal root, thumb-size, sliced thin
  3 whole  Thai Chilis, de-seeded, cut thin

  1 whole  Kaffir Lime leaf, bruised

  3 Tbs    Oil, neutral flavored

  3 Tbs    Butter

  3 Tbs    Yogurt

 10 ounces Wild Salmon, cut into 1-inch bitesized pieces

 10 ounces Butternut Squash, cubed and cooked
  2 Tbs    Thai Fish Sauce
  2 Tbs    Lime Juice

Rinse the Jasmine Rice in cold water in a fine sieve several times.

Bring the Water and Salt to boil, then drain and add the Rice; cook 6-7 minutes until al dente (Jasmine seems to take a bit less time than Basmati, don't overcook). Drain in sieve and run under cold water to stop cooking, then drain again.

While Rice is boiling, heat the Coconut Milk, add and dissolve Shrimp Paste, and add Galangal, Chilis, Kaffir Lime Leaf, and cook to coax out the flavors.

Heat the Oil and Butter until melted and frothy in a 12-inch non-stick skillet. 

Remove 1 1/2 C par-cooked Rice and gently mix with the Yoghurt, then add to hot skillet and line the bottom of the pan.

Gently fold the Salmon, Squash, and Flavored Cocount Milk into the remaining Rice. Add to the base layer of rice in the skillet, trying not to disturb it as it forms a crust; spread evenly, then poke 6 holes to the bottom of the skillet to let moisture escape and the rice to crisp up. Splash the Fish Sauce and Lime Juice over the top.

White base on the bottom, flavored and stuffed rice on top

Cook 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes to heat evenly.

Check the edges for browning; add a bit of oil around the outside if needed. Cook another 15-20 minutes until the crust is formed and well-browned. 

Edges browned, white foam shows salmon is cooked

Invert a serving platter over the skillet, and with confidence and gusto, invert quickly; the finished dish should easily fall onto the platter. 

Look at that crust! Brown spots are where we punched holes for steam

Serve.

Adjustments

The intensity of the Coconut Milk was just right -- noticeable but not over-powering. The proportion of Salmon and Squash seemed good. We couldn't detect any heat from the Chilis, though they were plenty fierce before cooking, so add more.  The Fish Sauce and Lime Juice were barely noticeable, so bump these up too.

Future directions...

With this under our belt, we're interested in trying even more silly variations, like Gumbo-inspired (roux for flavor, with andouille sausage and okra), middle eastern, etc. Will regular American short-grain rice work? We don't think Italian arborio (risotto) would work as it's designed to get creamy; asian sticky rice might be fun; Spanish bomba rice could but its virtues are probably best expressed as paella.

Do we need the yogurt? Would unflavored coconut milk also provide coherence and browning? Would the butter and oil be enough by themselves?

We'd also like to scale down the recipe for two people. For 1 Cup Rice, my math says an 8-inch pan provides the proportionate area.

Samin Nosrat's Tahdig (Persian-ish crispy rice)

Samin cooked Iranian/Persian basmati rice to develop the crunchy bottom, the coveted "tahdig", on the cooking show Salt Fat Acid Heat. I love that stuff, so was happy to find her adaptation which is so easy. It uses Yogurt to help bind and brown the crunchy layer, and parboiling so you can finish cooking -- and develop the crust -- in a low non-stick skillet instead of deep pot. I've adjusted it a bit for our pans, over-sizing the crusty rice base a little. It makes enough for four, but we found the leftovers heated up OK, but were not quite as fragrant. (David Lebovitz borrows from Samin and several others, but uses less water and salt in the parboiling stage; he mixes yoghurt and butter, and adds saffron which sounds excellent).

We mixed in some small cubes of cooked squash to the second Rice addition and it was a fine complement to the rice. 

Crunchy rice!

  2 C   Basmati Rice
1/3 C   Kosher Salt (depending on saltiness)
1/3 C   Yogurt
  3 Tbs Vegetable Oil
  3 Tbs Butter

Rinse the Rice several times until the water runs clear; easiest to do this in a fine mesh sieve in a bowl.

Bring 4 Qt Water to boil with salt, it seems like too much Salt, but it doesn't cook long and most of the water is discarded. Boil the Rice 6-8 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking.

Heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet, add Oil and Butter, and melt; it'll turn frothy.

Remove 1 1/2 C Rice and mix with Yogurt. Add to skillet and flatten to cover the bottom: this will become the crust.

Add the rest of the Rice on top, mounding slightly to the center. (Poke 6 holes through the rice to the bottom of the skillet to allow steam to escape so the rice dries out.

Cook 20 minutes over medium heat, turning a quarter turn ever 5 minutes for even browning.

Check the edges to ensure they're browning, if not, add a bit more oil around the edges. 

Edges starting to brown; we added some cubed squash

Cook on low heat another 15-20 minutes until the rice is done, crunchy on the bottom.

Place a platter over the skillet and bravely invert: the rice should detach easily and form a beautiful display. Serve.