Anardana (Pomegranate Seeds)

Anardana is dried pomegranate seed, small and dark red with a leathery skin and a hard pip at the centre. It tastes sweet and sour at once, closer to sour cherry or tamarind than to fresh pomegranate, and it is used across Indian, Pakistani and Afghan cooking wherever a dish needs fruity tartness rather than the flat sourness of vinegar or lemon.

These are the whole seeds. Ameen sells anardana ground as well, which dissolves into a sauce; the whole seed keeps its chew and its little bursts of tartness.

Anardana, also written anar dana, is sold in English as dried pomegranate seeds or dried pomegranate arils. The seeds are sticky and chewy, deep ruby to dark brown, with a fragrant, fruity-sour aroma. It is a traditional souring agent in North Indian and Pakistani kitchens, where it appears in chana masala, chaat masala and samosa fillings, and it also makes a tangy topping for salads and yoghurt dishes.

How to use it

Whole anardana goes into curries and lentil dishes, and is kneaded into the dough for anardana kulcha before baking. Scatter it over fruit chaat, stir it through chutney, or press it into a meat marinade where it tenderises as it sours. Technique tip: soak the seeds in a little warm water for ten minutes before adding them to a quick-cooking dish, since dry they can stay stubbornly hard.

Details

Also known as

Dried Pomegranate Seeds, Anardana, Daru, Dadima, Dalim, Dalimb, Dhalim, Dhalimbe