Recipe - Parcha Bozbash (Lamb Soup With Chestnuts Quin

1 pound Boneless lean lamb
; cut in 1" cubes
Salt; to taste
Pepper, black; to taste
3 tablespoon Butter
1 md Onion, finely chopped
4 cup Beef broth
1 md Potato, peeled and cubed
1 small Quince; peeled/cored/cubed
One half cup Dried pitted prunes
OR 1 cup fresh sour prunes
One fourth pound Chestnuts, shelled & peeled
2/3 cup Canned chickpeas*
; drained & rinsed
2 tablespoon Ghi

Season the lamb with salt and pepper. In a heavy pot, melt the 3 tb.
butter over moderate heat. Add the lamb and onion; saute until browned,
stirring frequently. Add the broth; season to taste with salt. Cover;
simmer 30 minutes.

Add the potato, quince, prunes, and chestnuts. Cover; simmer 20 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or until done.
Stir in the clarified butter and allow to melt before serving soup.

Note: One fourth tsp. ginger or a pinch of powdered saffron dissolved in 2 tb.
warm water may be added with the chickpeas, and the soup served sprinkled
with 1 ts. crushed dried mint, accompanied by chopped onion and sumakh on
the side. In the Caucasus, ground kyurdyuk is normally used instead of the
clarified butter, and dried chickpeas* rather than canned ones. The dried
chickpeas are soaked several hours, drained, and added at the beginning
with the broth.

Personal note: I've found sumakh (labelled as sumac, a spice mixture) at
Middle Eastern groceries.

The author describes this soup as an "outstanding" Azerbaidzhani soup.

From "Cooking from the Caucasus" by Sonia Uvezian. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1978. Pp. 5253. ISBN 0156225948. Posted by Cathy Harned.
Submitted By SAM WARING SAM.WARING@3829112.IMA.INFOMAIL.COM On WED, 01
NOV 1995 134731 GMT

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini