Pomegranate Stew Recipe

Pomegranate Stew (Anardoon Stew) is one of the delicious stews in Northern Iran made with various ingredients. Below is the full and step-by-step tutorial on how to make the Pomegranate Stew.

Ingredients (4 People):

Chicken thigh or breast: 4 Pieces

Onions: 2 Bulbs (medium)

Garlic: 2 Cloves

Pomegranate paste: 5 Tablespoons

Tomato paste: 1 Tablespoon

Pomegranate juice: 1.5 Cups

Pomegranate seeds: 1.5 Cups

Brewed saffron: 2 Tablespoons

Salt and pepper: As needed

Turmeric and oil: As needed

Pomegranate Stew Recipe

1. To prepare yummy Pomegranate Stew, first mix the brewed saffron with 1 tablespoon of oil and some salt, black pepper, and turmeric in a small bowl; then, rub the ingredients on the chicken pieces.

2. The chicken should be left aside for at least 30 minutes to be marinated. Next, put a suitable pan on the heat and add some oil to it. As the oil gets hot, add the chicken pieces.

3. Fry the chicken well until all fried evenly; then, take it out of the pan and set it aside. Next, chop the onion into small pieces and add it to the pan with a little oil.

4. Fry the onion a little until becoming light and transparent; then, grate the garlic in the pan and fry it a little until the aroma of the garlic releases. Next, add some salt, black pepper, and turmeric and continue roasting for one more minute.

5. At this step, add tomato paste and fry for a few minutes until its raw taste gets fully eliminated. Next, add the pomegranate paste—if you don’t have the pomegranate paste, you can follow the recipe below to make it—and fry very little to mix with the other ingredients; then, add the pomegranate juice.

6. If you don't have pomegranate juice, you can also use chicken or meat stock. As the ingredients get uniform, add the pomegranate seeds and let the sauce start to boil on mild heat.

7. At this step, return the chicken pieces to the pan and put the pan lid so that the stew is cooked on mild heat. As the sauce thickens a bit and the chicken is fully cooked, taste the stew.

8. If the taste of the stew was too sour, you can add a little sugar to make it taste sour-sweet. At the end step, put the stew into the dish of interest and serve it with smothered rice or saffron rice.

Pomegranate Paste Recipe

1. To prepare traditional pomegranate paste, wash the pomegranates first, cut them in half, and de-seed them; then, put pomegranate seeds in a blender and take them pureed. After putting a strainer on a pot,

2. pour the pureed pomegranate seeds into a strainer and press them with a spatula until the water in the pomegranates passes through the strainer and pour them into the pot; then, press the pomegranate seeds with your hands until their juice gets fully expelled.

3. Next, put the pot on low heat until boiling. As the pomegranate juice starts to boil, it makes foam. Take the foam out as much as possible with a spatula and let the pomegranate juice boil and thicken.

4. Then, occasionally at the end steps, stir the pomegranate juice so that it does not sediment because it spoils the taste of the pomegranate paste. As the pomegranate paste reaches the desired concentration, add salt to it and stir a little to let them well mixed.

5. At the end, turn off the heat and allow the paste to cool. Note that every eight kilograms of quality pomegranate give us 1 kilogram of pomegranate paste. After it cools down, pour it into a jar with a lid and store it in a refrigerator.