This is a recreation of a simple, yet delicious, 13th-century dish from Aleppo, made with sour cherries, known in Arabic as qarāsiyā (قراصيا, قراسيا), a borrowing from the Greek kerasia (κεράσια), though the word could also refer to the cornelian cherry (Cornus mas). They were reported to grow in Syria and Egypt, and so it is no surprise that dishes requiring them are found in cookery books from those regions.
In this recipe, the chicken is not stewed as in the case of the very popular fruit stews (made with, for instance, quince, sour oranges or apples). Instead, it is fried in sesame oil before being added to the boiled cherries that have been thickened with sugar.
The use of some fresh mint adds a cooling lift, enhancing the aromatic complexity and bringing a refreshing final note. The sweet-and-sourness of the dish is typical of Aleppine cuisine, with the rich meatiness of fried chicken balanced by a tangy cherry glaze and enlivened by mint.
The sourness of the cherries is not too harsh, and the addition of sugar turns them into a syrup redolent of sour plum sauces like the Italian agrodolce or the Persian āloo sos (سس ألو). Today, qarāsiyā refers to a kind of plum in some dialects (e.g. Syria), while in Standard Arabic, the word for cherries is now karaz (كرز).
