Tag: plums

Fesenjan~Fesenjoon (Persian chicken stew)

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Once you experience the delight of this savory sweet and sour flavor combination, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Where pomegranate and walnut trees grow in abundance, you will see Persians lining up to have their favorite stew …still today! ( Note: Mamma Persia’s recipe uses plums instead of cane sugar or other subtitute sugars for sweetness !!!)

This is not a Tuesday night after work stew. Its for Saturday or Sunday afternoon when you can savor the flavour (especially with the 2 hour cook time). You will not find this recipe online. I looked. It came from a Persian woman. HER FAMILY’S FACES LIGHT UP when they hear ..dinner is ‘Fesenjoon‘. Have an early dinner with family and friends! The No#1 popular meal today is Fesenjoon!!!

Fesenjan~Fesenjoon Stew Recipe

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients
▢ 3 ½ cups chopped walnuts (300 gm)
▢ 8 (2 pounds) bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed ( you may use ground meet (a mixture of beef & lamb) 300 gm.
▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
▢ 1 medium onion, finely diced
▢ 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
▢ Fine sea salt to taste
▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
▢ ½ teaspoon saffron threads, ground
▢ ¾ cup pomegranate molasses*, plus more as needed (one cup)
▢ Dried plums ( 8) plus more as needed [this is your sugar substitute]
▢ Pomegranate seeds, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
1.. Grind the Walnuts: Finely grind 3 ½ cups of walnuts in a food processor until they start to look like sand that clumps together. Do not over process. You don’t want to end up with walnut butter.
2.. Toast the Walnuts: Place dry non-stick skillet over medium heat. Lightly toast walnuts, stirring continuously for a few minutes until you can smell the aroma from the ground nuts, making sure not to burn them. Pour toasted ground walnuts into a bowl and set aside until ready to use.
3.. Cook Onions: Take a large stockpot or Dutch oven with a lid and set over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When olive oil glistens, add 1 finely diced onion. Cook onions until they start to caramelize and turn golden brown. Then add 1 teaspoon turmeric (to taste) and stir into onion mixture.
4.. Cook Chicken Thighs: Add chicken thighs and sear for a few minutes on each side. Pour in 3 cups water and add 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low to allow stew to simmer for 10 minutes. Then remove chicken and set aside.
5.. Add the Ground Walnuts: Pour ground walnuts into the simmering cooking liquid and stir. Place the lid back on the pot and simmer the walnut mixture for 1 hour. Stir occasionally throughout to make sure walnuts don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. After the cooking time the walnut sauce should have thickened, darkened in color until its deeply golden like tahini or honey and there will be a layer of walnut oil on top.
6.. Bloom Saffron, add Pomegranate Molasses: In a small bowl add 1 tablespoon of water. Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder add the ½ teaspoon of saffron threads and grind. You should end up with about ¼ teaspoon ground saffron. Add the ¼ teaspoon of ground saffron to the 1 tablespoon of water. Into the pot with the walnut mixture, add ¾ cup of pomegranate molasses and bloomed saffron. Stir to combine.
7.. Add Chicken, Simmer and Season: Add chicken back into stew. Add plums here. Simmer for 45 minutes or until the meat is falling off the bone. The stew will be a rich dark brown and the oil from the walnuts will form a layer on the stew. Stir, season and taste. Adjust sweetness, sourness and seasoning to taste.
8.. Serve the Fesenjan: Ladle the fesenjan into a serving dish and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds to garnish. Serve with rice, Greek yogurt and a side salad.
*Directions for Pomegranate Molasses
1. Fill a saucepan with the juice and bring it to a low boil. Reduce the heat so the liquid will stay at a low boil, and let the juice cook down until you have a scant cup of thick, syrupy liquid. This will take about an hour, and it will thicken up more if you cook longer.

*What’s in Pomegranate Molasses?

Despite the name, pomegranate molasses does not contain any added sugar, and is made by naturally reducing pomegranate juice down to a thick syrup. That’s it! No other ingredients! Nice and healthy! Some people add sugar…don’t be fooled!

Wild ducks roamed in abundance. In ancient Persia, ducks and pomegranates were symbols were a perfect pairing. Makes sense when you look at this gorgeous stew! Persian princes ate this dish regularly. Those jeweled pomegranate seeds play a vital role in numerous Iranian dishes. The most popular and enticing dish for many Persians (and me) is fesenjan!

“Joanna’s Vegan Corner”

The classic Iranian sweet-sour sauce works as well with veg as it does with poultry. Instead of chicken use: * optional -mint leaves garnish

* 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
*1 large floury potato, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
* ½ celeriac, cut into 4cm chunks
* 400g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved *fresh mint leaves (optional)

A Meal Fit For A King and Persian Princes!

Clafoutis DESSERT

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Plum, Cranberry and Almond Clafoutis (pronounced “kla-FOO-tee”) Recipe

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INGREDIENTS
3 plums
1 cup cranberries (can be frozen, no need to defrost)
1/4 cup (50g)   ground almonds
2 tbsp (30gm) rice flour
1/2 cup (100g) sugar substitute
2 free range eggs
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup (250g) milk (2% or whole)
1 tbsp(30g) melted unsalted butter
2 tbsp(30g) sliced almonds

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DIRECTIONS
1)  Preheat oven to 375 F ( 190C)
2)  Line a spring form pan with parchment

3) Using a pastry or silicon brush the bottom and sides of pan with melted unsalted butter
4) Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the sweetened on the pan and rotate the pan to distribute evenly.  Turn the pan upside down to let any access fall out.  Keep any access sweetener to add to the batter.
5)  Place pitted, sliced in half plums evenly on the spring form pan.  Sprinkle the cranberries all around.  It is alright to bake these from frozen.  There is not need to defrost them.
6)  Place in a blender the ground almonds, rice flour, sugar substitute, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, almond extract and a pinch of salt. Blend the batter and pour it on the fruit.  Scatter the top with sliced almonds and bake for 35-45 minutes until risen and golden brown.
7)  Let cool and dip a knife into hot water and run it along the side on the spring form pan. Remove the ring.  Slice using a knife dipped in hot water.  Plate and serve warm ( topped with whipped cream – optional ).

Into The Oven
Into The Oven
Out of the oven
Out Of The Oven
To The Table -M-M-M-M-
To The Table -M-M-M-M-
didyouknow

DID YOU KNOW? Eating 6 almonds a day lowers your LDL (bad) cholesterol. Eating almonds also helps curb your appetite and regulates your blood sugar. It looks like a peach pit because it is a member of the prunus family (fruit trees). The polyphenols and antioxidants are thought to help fight off heart disease and cancer.
It is easy enough to make this dessert for two or just for yourself.

Just use half of the ingredients and bake in individual custard cups. I used frozen cherries for the individual servings.  The flavour was a little flat as the cherries had very little acidity.  I would add some grated lemon rind the next time I make this with cherries.
Enjoy one of them and refrigerate the other one for tomorrow!

Clafoutis: rhymes with sugar-free (back story)

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all-recipes3 Clafoutis originated in the Limousin area of France.  This is the area where Limoges porcelain is made. This dessert dates from at least the mid 1800’s.  The word comes from the French verb “clafir”, meaning “to fill”.  You are filling up the batter with cherries in this case. Clafoutis rhymes with sugar-free and that is what this version is and gluten free as well.

. . . . . . . .a NO Sugar, NO Gluten and NO Guilt Dessert.

cherry_clafoutisThe classic clafoutis is basically a crust less pie with cherries. When classified as a flan by the rest of France, Limousin objected and the term was removed.  The classic version had cherries with stones and they claimed the flavour was enhanced imparting an almond flavour. They believed if the cherries were pitted, the dish would be too watery.  Talk about a choking hazard!  We have also stopped eating wild chicken while spitting out the buckshot. Today cherry clafoutis is made with pitted cherries. Cherry pits have amygdalin, found in almond extract. To substitute the almond flavour from the cherry pits,  I added ground almond in the batter.

QUICK TO MAKE:  This is a simple batter of eggs, flour, milk and sugar poured over the cherries and baked in an oven causing the mixture to puff up and brown.  Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 40 minutes.  I have made this so often because my friends enjoy this dessert. One reason is that it is a very light dessert after dinner.  When I substituted plums for cherries, it was a real coup. My friends asked me to come early to their dinner party  -the following week, to make the “plum” clafoutis dessert again.  It was that good! ( Baked plums are slightly sweeter than raw plums ). I prefer baked plums. This is the best dessert I can think of that is truly healthy.  Later,  I added cranberries to the mix. The ground almonds is the key flavour that makes this dessert a winner – see  recipe.
VARIATIONS: The cherries were later substituted with other ingredients  such as plums, apples, apricots pears, peaches raspberries , bananas, prunes, figs, and savory items like cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and prosciutto, bacon and cheese, cheese and potato, ham, etc. If another item instead of cherries are used, then you can no longer term the dish a clafoutis. It is correctly termed Flognardes (flan-like batter).

IMG_0708SINGLE SERVINGS: This recipe is very easy to make and you can cut the recipe in half to make just 2 or 3 servings. Or,  you may use ramekins, or any small baking dishes for single serving baking.  Otherwise,  Clafoutis is classically made in a flan type pan. You may scoop or slice the dessert onto your plate.  I prefer to use  a ring mold. It is very easy to remove the ring  and have a fool-proof presentation at the table for this light, tasty dessert.

THE EYE DOES HALF THE EATING.  Presentation is not everything but it is pretty powerful.  Have you ever had the experience where someone told you that something tasted good but it really didn’t?  It only looked good.  We’ve all been there.  If it looks good – it is certain that you are anticipating a good meal. The first bite is the tell all. When you taste this one you will see what I mean.  It’s fool proof.  EASY TO MAKE!

HAT2TIPS:   You absolutely need  to put parchment on the bottom of the ring mold so the batter won’t run out.  Place the ring mold on a metal sheet covered in aluminum foil for easy clean up of any possible run off. You coat the mold with butter and sweetener for ease of removal, presentation and decoration.

HEALTHY BENEFITS: The almonds, eggs and milk make this a healthy dessert that won’t give you that heavy feeling in your gut after a meal.  It doesn’t cause all the enzymes in your digestive tract to do battle and make you feel like you have a big nap.  This dessert supports our mission at Simply Splendid Food  for  healthy and tasty meals!

Food that people love and super healthy at the same time