Persian Chicken Or Duck In Pomegranate Walnut Sauce (Fesenjan) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup oil
2 1/2 - 3 lbs chicken (cut up, bone-in) or 2 1/2-3 lbs duck (cut up, bone-in)
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cups walnuts, finely ground in a food processor
1 1/2 - 2 cups chicken stock or 1 1/2-2 cups water
2/3 cup pomegranate syrup (see notes in description if using juice)
2 -3 tablespoons sugar
kosher salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Preparation

Sprinkle meat with lime juice and allow to marinate for 1-4 hours.
Over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot heat an 1/8 cup (2 Tablespoons) of the butter or oil until shimmering.
Add the chicken/duck pieces a few at a time and brown on all sides. Remove to a plate.
Add onions (and eggplant if using - see notes in description) and saute in remaining butter or oil until translucent.
Stir in ground walnuts and saute for 1/2 a minute.
Add stock or water and browned chicken/duck pieces. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 20-30 minutes.
Stir in the pomegranate juice, sugar, salt and pepper.
Taste and adjust seasoning. Sauce should have a balanced sweet-sour flavor. See notes to adjust.
Simmer another 15-20 minutes until the chicken/duck is tender, sauce is somewhat thickened and the walnuts begin to give off their oil. Serve with plain white rice.