 A bowl of chickenfesenjān, with Persian rice topped bytahdig | |
| Alternative names | Fesenjan, Fesenjoon |
|---|---|
| Type | Stew |
| Course | Main course |
| Place of origin |  Iran (Gilan) |
| Region or state | Iran |
| Associatedcuisine | Iranian cuisine |
| Created by | Iranians |
| Main ingredients | Pomegranate juice,walnuts,poultry (duck orchicken) |
| Variations | Lamb meatballs |
Fesenjān (Persian:فسنجان; also calledFesenjoon inTehrani dialect) is a sweet and sourIranianstew (akhoresh). The roots of this Persian delicacy trace back to theSassanid Persia's golden age.[1] It is typically served over rice in the Iranian manner.[2] In Iran, it is made with minced meat (lamb, sheep or beef), meatballs, chicken or duck. Like otherkhoresh stews served over rice,fesenjan is common also toIraqi cuisine through Iranian pilgrims visitingShia sites such asImam Husayn shrine.[3] As a festive dish for special occasions, it has become part of JewishRosh Hashannah celebrations, even though the typology ofJewish ethnic cuisines is imprecise.[4] InAzerbaijan, where it is calledfisincan plov, the stew is made with lamb meatballs instead of poultry.[5]
Fesenjān is flavored withpomegranate paste and groundwalnuts (seebazha)[6] and spices like turmeric, cinnamon, orange peel, cardamom, and rosebud.[7] It is traditionally made with eggplant andpoultry (duck orchicken).[7] Fesenjān can also be made using balls ofground meat or chunks of lamb. Depending on the recipe, it can have a sweet or sour taste. Fesenjān is served with Iranian white or yellowrice (polo orchelo).
If the pomegranate sauce comes out too sour, sugar and fried onions may be added to sweeten it.[8] Sometimes, a hot iron is applied to causeoxidation and darken the sauce's color.[8]
It is a dish that is part of the dinner table onYaldā Night celebrations.[6]
The earliest known reference to fesenjān is inMirza Ali-Akbar Khan Ashpazbashi'sSofra-ye at'ema from 1881, which lists ten different varieties of the dish: walnut (today the most common), almond, eggplant,kidney bean,quince, potato, carrot, pumpkin, fish, and yogurt.[8] The first dictionary to mention fesenjān is theFarhang-e Anandraj, which calls itfasūjan.[8]
Fesenjān is an elaborate dish that is often reserved for special occasions.[8] It is considered "a rich man's dish", which is referenced in the Persian expression "he behaves as if he has had partridge and fesenjān", meaning to show off or act pretentiously.[8]
In the traditional Iranian system of garm and sard foods (i.e. "hot" and "cold", respectively), fesenjān is considered "hot" because it uses walnuts, which are also considered a "hot" food.[8] In order to balance out this hotness, sometimes people will addcoriander (a "cold" plant) to it; peeled pumpkin is also added for the same reason, as well as to act as a sugar substitute.[8]
Richly sweet, subtly sour, with a satisfying depth of flavour from ground walnuts: fesenjan is a tempting Persian stew traditionally eaten during the winter solstice.
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| Related cuisines | |||||||||
 | ThisAzerbaijani cuisine-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | ThisPersian cuisine-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | This article aboutAfghan cuisine is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | ThisTurkish cuisine-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
