Saffarjaliyya

I've made a lot of Persian food over the last few years. There's 2 awesome persian supermarkets close by to where I live so it is really easy to get the necessary ingredients these days. Plus it is such a rich and full flavoured food, especially their more stewish things. I'm not exactly sure how to pronounce this to be honest I didn't really even give it a red hot go as the alternate name is Aleppo Quince and Lamb Stew. Which, I will be truthful, is a lot easier to pronounce for me. Another thing easy to pronounce is delicious, like gloriously delicious. Two of my favourite things, lamb and quince together. 

I really thought I had made this before. However, according to my friend I haven't, the last quince thing I made was a quince and pork stew. Whilst I remember it as being good, this was so much better. I did it a little differently than the recipe I found online but then I mostly do. I would highly recommend it. 

Saffarjaliyya (Aleppo Quince and Lamb Stew)

Lamb: 
1 tbsp oil
750 g lamb, diced
1 tsp bharat
1 tsp salt

2 tbsp tomato past

2 small onions, diced 

2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 6 from memory) 

7 cardamom pods

7 peppercornes

1/4 tsp whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick (I didn't have one so added a bit of ground cinnamon)

100 ml pomegranate juice

1-2 cups water

Quince: 

1 kg quinces, peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces

500 ml pomegranate juice

125 ml water

50 g sugar

Quince:

In a medium saucepan, add sugar, water and pomegranate juice, heat to simmer and sugar dissolved. Add quince and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. The quince should be soft enough to be easily pierced with a fork, but not so soft that it’s falling apart.

 Lamb:

Combine bharat, tomato paste and salt to taste and rub over lamb. Brown in batches.

Add onion to the pan and soften, add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add whole spices.

Return lamb to the pan and add remaining pomegranate juice and 1-2 cups water. Simmer until lamb is cooked through and only a small amount of liquid remains.

Stir quinces into the lamb adding more liquid if necessary and simmer further 10 – 15 minutes until heated through.

I served it with mashed potato and peas... not very Syrian of me, but it was the best I could come up with on a Monday night. It would be really good with a couscous with pomegranate seeds and herbs stirred in. 

I will definitely make it again and highly recommend you do too.