National viands à la mode

Boil one pound of Patna rice in two quarts of strong white stock, with only a pinch of salt. Watch the rice carefully ; the moment it is tender drain and steam before the fire. Now prepare a syrup flavoured with either lemon, cocoanut, musk, or rose water. Turn the rice into a dish, put a little piece of fresh butter on it, stir lightly with a fork for the butter to mix with it, then pour over the syrup ; garnish the top with fried almonds or pistachios and sultanas. If preferred, the rice may be coloured with a little saffron. White Indian Soup Cut up an onion into very thin rings ; fry it — in two ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves — to a delicate brown. Now add a tablespoonful of the very best curry powder ; stir in one pint of water ; add it to two tablespoonfuls of pea flour that has been mixed to the consistency of cream in a little cold water ; allow it to thicken a little, and then add one pint of fresh curds, a stick of cinnamon, a blade of mace, the seeds of twelve cardamoms, two beads of garlic chopped, three bay leaves, a few leaves of tarragon and chervil ; let it simmer gently for an hour, strain through a wire sieve or tammy cloth just before serving ; put in salt to taste. The juice of a lemon is a great improvement. Serve with a separate dish of plain boiled rice. Zarebrian Junther (Mrs. Grace Johnstone) Meat four pounds, rice two pounds, curds four pounds, ghee one pound, onions one pound, thirtysix grains of black pepper, one drachm of cinnamon, green ginger one ounce, cloves and cardamoms each thirty-six grains, cummin seed nineteen grains, coriander seeds one ounce, turmeric nineteen grains, salt one and a half ounce. Cut the meat into large slices, and soak it in bruised green ginger and salt for an hour ; grind the cardamoms and turmeric with half the curds and coriander seeds ; add these together and rub over the meat, and let stand for a short time ; put it into a pan with the cummin seeds and spices and a little ghee. Soak the rice in water for a few minutes, mash it, then mix a little salt with some water, and add the rice to it ; stir well, and mash again. Mix now with the rest of the curds, put it over the meat, and cover it close. Simmer it gently till the curds are dried up, then pour over a little ghee, let it stand near the fire for an hour, and serve. RUSSIAN, POLISH, AND SIBERIAN Russian Appetiser Stir together two cups of sweet cream, two tablespoonfuls of flour, one cup of melted butter, and one tablespoonful of sugar. Add a quarter of a pound of grated cheese, one well-beaten w^hite of RUSSIAN, POLISH, AND SIBERIAN 59 egg. These two ingredients are stirred slowly together, the others are added, and then the mixture is poured into small paper cases — one for each person — and baked slowly. Russian Apple Souffld Take some apple marmalade (about one and a half pound), well flavoured with lemon, let it boil, stirring well ; have ready the whites of eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth, and whipped in to the apple mixture. Put this into a souffle dish, smooth its surface with the blade of a knife into the form of a dome. Bake in a slack oven for twenty minutes, and dust over with caster sugar. Bigos. (Polish) (Dubois)