Safardjaliya
- 2 pounds shoulder of lamb, cut into large pieces
- 2 onions, sliced
- 4 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
- Salt and plenty of pepper
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron
- 2 pounds quinces
- Juice of 1/2 lemon plus 1 optional lemon
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 34 tablespoons honey
- Put the meat with the onions, butter or oil, salt, pepper, ginger, and saffron in a large pan and cook, turning over the meat, for about 5 minutes.
- Cover with water and simmer, covered, over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is very tender, adding water if it becomes too dry.
- Remove the lid at the end to reduce the sauce.
- Wash and scrub the quinces.
- Have ready a pan of boiling water with the juice of 1/2 lemon.
- Cut the quinces into quarters (you will need a big strong knife and plenty of force, as they are very hard).
- Do not peel them, but cut away the blackened ends, and drop them at once into the acidulated boiling water (the lemon stops them from going brown).
- Simmer for 1530 minutes, until tender.
- The time varies greatly, and you must watch them, as they can fall apart very quickly.
- They should not be too soft.
- Drain, and when cool enough to handle, cut out the cores.
- Put them in the pan with the meat, flesh side up.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon and pour a little honey on each.
- Squeeze the extra lemon, if using, over the stew.
- Cook for 5 minutes, then turn the quinces over and cook a few minutes more.
- A Lebanese version is flavored with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds instead of the spices used above.
- Small meatballsmade with 1/2 pound ground beef or lamb blended to a paste in the food processor with 1 grated onion and 1 cup bulgurare sometimes added.
- Instead of the quinces, pears or sharp green apples, peeled and quartered and sauteed in butter or oil or a mixture of both, may be added to the stew towards the end of the cooking.
- Chicken is also cooked with quinces in the same way as lamb.
lamb, onions, butter, salt, ginger, saffron, lemon plus, cinnamon, honey
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/safardjaliya-373413 (may not work)