Pomegranate & walnut chicken

2 large onions, chopped into a fine dice
1 cup water
6-8 chicken breasts
5 TBS pomegranate molasses
Pinch each of black pepper, cinnamon, turmeric and nutmeg (or allspice or “mixed spice”)
2 cups of low salt chicken stock
2 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS sugar
200g ground walnuts


Using a few sprays of oil, saute the onions until golden, then remove from pan and set aside. If you can’t get a good golden colour this way, use olive oil from a bottle and rinse away the oil with boiling water – caramelising onion provides flavour and a subtle sweetness that this dish needs that adding more sugar won’t provide.

Brown the chicken, then add the onions back to the pan along with the stock and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken and set aside. Mix in the water, pomegranate molasses, ground walnuts and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes then return chicken to the pan and add spices and lemon juice before simmering for a further hour.