Persian pomegranate chicken with Persian rice

Serves 4

200g walnut halves
600ml Pom wonderful
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 whole chicken cut 8 into pieces, skinned
1 teaspoons sea salt
2 onions, finely chopped
250ml fresh chicken stock
1 pomegranate knocked of its seeds.

For the rice
30g butter, plus 1 tablespoon extra
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
250g-basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick
3 or 4 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
400 ml chicken or vegetable stock
100g vermicelli noodles, cooked
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Pop the walnuts into a food processor and whiz until they become a fine powder. Be careful not to over processes and end up with walnut butter!

Meanwhile pop the Pom wonderful into a small pan, bring to boil and then reduce by half until it becomes syrupy. It will be super sweet and super tangy.

Season the chicken in the salt. Heat the oil in a large casserole pan and then brown the chicken in batches. Remove the browned chicken from the pan with a slotted spoon, and then pour in the onions and walnuts. Cook them very slowly on a low heat for 5-8 minutes. Add the chicken back to the pan. Cover with the pomegranate molasses and top up with chicken stock. Let stew gently for 35-40 minutes, turning once. The sauce will thicken and reduce. Some people like to shred the chicken but I like it in pieces. Serve with the rice pilaf and scatter with fresh pomegranate seeds.

For the rice, heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Melt the 30g butter in a casserole then throw in the onions and cook them really slowly over a lowish heat for 20 minutes, until really soft, sweet and caramelised. Add the garlic for the last minute of cooking. Stir in the rice, cinnamon and cloves and coat in the butter for 1 minute. Cover with the stock, and pop a lid on the casserole then place in the oven for 10 minutes.

Just before the rice is almost done, heat the tablespoon butter in a frying pan until the butter turns light brown. Stir through the vermicelli until it crisps up a little.

Pour the burnt butter and vermicelli into the rice pilaf and give a good stir. The rice should almost be cooked at this stage. Place the rice pan in the oven, uncovered and cook for another 5 minutes so the top of the rice crisps up. Serve immediately with whatever you fancy.