Duck Fesenjoon
Duck Fesenjoon
Duck with Walnut & Pomegranate Sauce
This is my take on a classic Persian dish called “Fesenjoon." A sweet and sour sauce stew made from walnuts and pomegranate molasses traditionally served with rice and duck, but nowadays people cook it with chickens or even meatballs."
"I have always wanted to introduce Persian food to my non-Iranian friends but the way we traditionally present our food family style is sometimes so foreign to non-Iranians that it can be confusing for them." "Iranians often cook the protein with the sauce for hours, so typically poultry meat like duck or chicken can become very dry sometimes. So that is why I came up with this particular presentation, and changed the way I cook this dish in a plated format.” This is a perfect dish for any special occasions or holiday celebrations, and you can serve it with rice or even with mashed potatoes and caramelized red onions!
Alireza Sarraf
Al’s Culinary Tours
Instagram alirez.foods
Facebook alirez.foods
Ingredients
For 4 People
- 400g Walnuts (Finely Grounded)
- 1 Large onion (finely chopped)
- 4 tbsp Pomegranate molasses
- 4 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 4 cups of water (lukewarm)
- 300 ml chicken broth/stock
- Oil 2 tbsp
- 4 Pieces of Duck breast
- 4 cups of rice
- 1/2 tsp Saffron
- 2 Potatoes (Thinly sliced)
- 100g Butter
- Bouquet Garnet made with thyme/rosemary (optional)
- Pomegranate seeds and mint leaves to garnish.
Instructions
- Start with frying the chopped onions in a pan with some oil until they get some color, then add your finely grounded walnuts to it and cook them for about 5/6 minutes.
- Then add the chicken stock and the same amount of water and bring it to boil and let the sauce simmer on low/medium heat for about 45 minutes.
- Once the walnuts have released their oil, start skimming the oil and scums that sit on top of the sauce, and don't forget to continuously stir the sauce.
- When you are happy with the cooking of the walnuts add the pomegranate molasses, lemon juice and season the sauce with some salt and pepper.
- Then gradually add the sugar, stir and taste the sauce after a couple of minutes, if it is too sweet or sour for your liking, you can balance out the flavor by adding a little bit more pomegranate molasses or sugar to it.
- Put the lid on and cook the sauce on very low heat until everything comes together and the sauce is ready.
- In the meantime, using a sharp knife score the duck breast’s skins in a diagonal direction being careful not to cut through to the meat.
- Then pan seared them on the skin side on a very hot frying pan with the bouquet garni until it’s golden brown as shown, and flip them over and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Don’t forget that you don’t need to add any oil to the pan as duck usually produces a lot of oil. So, make sure to continuously drain the oil from the pan as shown in the video. Once they’re ready, place them in an oven-safe plate and let them rest in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
- By now, the sauce must be rich enough and ready. Cut the duck breasts evenly and nicely and serve them on top of the sauce with some Persian rice, or mashed potatoes.
