Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

2 spoonfuls of India soy. 2 spoonfuls of walnut pickle. To be all mixed in one pint of vinegar. Shake it well and cork it. N.B. — It will be fit for use in a month, and will keep good for years. COLD CURRY. WELSH TITIENS May 21. — “ The Blues’ ” Cold Curry. — I find many people who are fond of curry have never discovered how good it is cold, as a shape, served with very well boiled rice, also cold, round it ; the latter can be garnished with red and green chillies if liked. “ The Blues’ ” cold curry is an excellent version of this savoury cold supper dish. Take some carrots, onions, celery, apples, tomatoes, and a bunch of herbs. Fry all a nice brown, then add currypowder, curry-paste, and flour to taste. Fry these also. When that is cooled add some chutney and some good jellied stock (or a good lump of glaze, or a small pot of Liebig’s extract of meat). Boil well together and pass through a tammy; the sauce is then ready. If meat already cooked is to be used for this curry, cut it up in rather large dice, add to the sauce, and boil up ; and then turn it into the dish to be used next day. But if uncooked meat is used, it will require to be fried a nice brown and cooked in the curry-sauce for one hour. May 25. — Welsh “Titiens.” — Here is an excellent Welsh tea-cake which is easily made if some “ hot stuft ” is wanted for tea or breakfast. 3 grated apples. ^ lb. flour. About ^ lb. of mixed butter and lard. 2-|- heaped teaspoonfuls of brown sugar. I good teaspoonful of baking-powder. Rub all together in a bowl, stir up with a fork, and add a few currants. If you have no apples, add a few spoonfuls of milk. Sprinkle a little flour over when well stirred and knead on a board. Then roll out with a rolling-pin, cut in circles and lay on a griddle which you have previously May WELSH TITIENS placed with a little buttered paper. When one side is brown, turn over, and then sprinkle the brown top with sugar (the sugar side must not be turned down or it will stick). They must come to table very hot. Some people omit currants. June I. — The Shortest Day. — In this month, which answers to December in England in that respect, we have (on the 2 1st) our shortest day. It is in fact our mid-winter. Yet the weather is often more balmy than in July, and we have also less rain. Ordinarily warm clothing is worn. June 3. — I shall make cuttings of hydrangeas, which are easily grown, this month ; they like rich mould. Hydrangeas grow to great perfection in the suburbs of Cape Town, but like to be shaded from the sun ; they flower about Christmas or New Year, and last for months. Fruits. — Oranges begin to come into season, but are still rather sour, they will be far better in September and October ; but they will do for cooking, and nothing is nicer than baked oranges. Baked Oranges. — You just cut the top nearly off (leaving it like a lid with a hinge), and bake the oranges as you would apples, and send them to table quite hot ; to be eaten egg-fashion, with a spoon and sugar ; cream, too, if you wish. They are always popular. Orange tart, too, is very good ; the oranges divided into "figs," and all the white taken off, the crust (a goodd June GUAVAS. PISH SALAD. “ PEKELAAR ”