-
1
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.
-
2
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.
-
3
Remove the lid at the end to reduce the sauce.
-
4
Wash and scrub the quinces.
-
5
Have ready a pan of boiling water with the juice of 1/2 lemon.
-
6
Cut the quinces into quarters (you will need a big strong knife and plenty of force, as they are very hard).
-
7
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).
-
8
Simmer for 1530 minutes, until tender.
-
9
The time varies greatly, and you must watch them, as they can fall apart very quickly.
-
10
They should not be too soft.
-
11
Drain, and when cool enough to handle, cut out the cores.
-
12
Put them in the pan with the meat, flesh side up.
-
13
Sprinkle with cinnamon and pour a little honey on each.
-
14
Squeeze the extra lemon, if using, over the stew.
-
15
Cook for 5 minutes, then turn the quinces over and cook a few minutes more.
-
16
A Lebanese version is flavored with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds instead of the spices used above.
-
17
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.
-
18
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.
-
19
Chicken is also cooked with quinces in the same way as lamb.
