The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Meat and fruit stews for the Jewish New Year
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins on Sunday evening, Sept. 9.
Last year we enjoyed celebrating a Rosh Hashanah dinner with our next-door neighbors, who are from Iran. On their beautiful holiday table, a bowl of jewellike pomegranate arils was one of the foods that were set out for the ceremonial blessings, along with leek chives, fried zucchini, cooked beets, pinto beans in tomato sauce, fava beans cooked in their pods, dates, apples, and honey. The prayer over the pomegranate expressed the wish that one’s mitzvot, or good deeds, be as numerous as the fruit’s seeds.
The pomegranate is one of the Torah’s Seven Species, and so it’s not surprising that it finds its way into the holiday meals. Indeed, Persian Jews use the fruit in a popular dish — a chicken and pomegranate stew called khoresh fesenjan. I learned to make it from an Iranian woman who came to my cooking classes. The luscious sauce is flavored with pomegranate molasses or pomegranate juice and a generous amount of ground walnuts; sometimes pomegranate arils are added as well.
When we visited Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, we discovered that this pomegranate flavored stew is a much loved entree there. In fact, when we were in Baku, the capital, there was a festival devoted to fesenjan. At the festival the dish was made in a variety of ways — with quail, lamb, beef, rooster, meatballs and even fish, and we found them delicious.
Instead of — or in addition to — the pomegranate molasses, the sauce might be flavored with sour plums or the juice of unripe grapes, and it might have almonds instead of walnuts. Other fruits that might be used are barberries or raisins. Some cooks add a pinch of spice, such as saffron, turmeric or cardamom, which lend an exotic touch.
In spite of these stews’ origin in faraway lands, there was something familiar about them. They reminded me of tsimmes, an Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jewish) stew made with fruit that has been a traditional dish for Rosh Hashanah in my family. My mother usually made this sweet stew with beef, potatoes, sweet potatoes and prunes, and sometimes dried apricots as well. Unlike tsimmes, these Persian and Azerbaijani stews have nuts and do not have potatoes or sweet potatoes. They are served with Basmati rice.
In Baku we asked Milikh Yevdayev, the president of the Community of Mountain Jews, about Jewish holiday cooking in Azerbaijan. He told us that for the holidays, not only do Jews prepare dishes that are favorites of all Azerbaijanis, but they often celebrate the holidays with their countrymen of other religions. Perhaps we should add a wish to our family’s pomegranate blessing that people of different religions everywhere live in peace and harmony.
CHICKEN WITH POMEGRANATES AND WALUTS
Pomegranate molasses is sometimes called pomegranate paste. You can find it in Middle Eastern markets.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings