Practical West African cookery

2. Mix the eggs with the milk, add a tablespoon of soup not too hot, stir well, add another spoonful, stir again and then pour on the rest of the soup. The soup should be very hot but not boiling, or it will set the eggs. If rice or tapioca is liked, a small tablespoonful can be boiled for twenty minutes in the stock before mixing it with the eggs and milk. Rice Soup. (1). £ pint of stock. 1 small dessertspoon of rice. Wash the rice, put it into the boiling stock. For English rice boil twenty minutes, for native rice eight minutes. Tapioca Soup. (I). 4 pint stock. 1 small dessertspoon tapioca. Put the tapioca into the boiling stock and boil for fifteen minutes. The tapioca must be sprinkled lightly into the stock. If the grains are stuck together, crush them with a bottle before sprinkling them in the stock, otherwise the soup will be lumpy. When thoroughly cooked, the tapioca should look quite transparent. Tomato Soup. (1). 5 or 6 large tomatoes or 10 small ones. 1 pint water. 1 large onion or 2 small ones. 1 small teaspoon sugar. 1 teaspoon salt. 1 berkono or a pinch of black pepper. 1 teacup hot stock or milk (if Ideal, 1 tablespoon to a teacup of water). (A little dried thyme or a bunch of parsley.) 1. Wash the tomatoes, cut them in quarters, also the onion, and put them in the two-pint saucepan with the salt, pepper, sugar (and thyme or parsley). Pour on the cold water and set on a slow fire ; when it has reached boiling point, set it a little aside and cook very slowly for an hour and a half, when the soup should be like a thick purée. 2. Five minutes before serving, strain the soup through the sieve, return it to the saucepan and add the hot stock or milk. If you add stock, the soup may boil again for two or three minutes, but if you add milk it should have been boiled beforehand, or it might be curdled by the tomatoes, and the soup should not be allowed to boil again. Two tablespoons fried dices of bread passed round with the soup are an improvement. Onion Soup. (I). 1 teaspoon salt. 1 small teacup hot stock or milk (if Ideal, 1 tablespoon to 1 teacup of water). 1 yolk of egg. 2 middle sized onions or 3 smaller ones. 3 teacups water. 1 berkono or a pinch of black pepper. 1. Cut the onions into quarters and put them into the saucepan with the water, salt and pepper. Set on a slow fire ; when boiling point has been reached, set a little aside and cook very slowly for a good hour, by which time the onions should be quite mashed. 2. Pass the liquid and mash the onion through the sieve into a pudding basin. Return the liquid and mashed onion to the saucepan and add the stock or milk. If you add milk do not let the soup boil again. 3. A great improvement to the soup is to put a yolk of egg into the tureen or soup plate. Mix it with a tablespoon or two of soup before pouring on the remainder. The soup must be very hot, but not boiling, or it will set the egg. A few thin slices of bread put into the tureen are also an improvement. Pumpkin Soup. (II). About a quarter of a melonsized pumpkin. 2 pints water. 1 teaspoon salt. £ teaspoon pepper or 2 berkono. | pint stock or milk (if Ideal, 2 tablespoons, the rest of water). The Kurzunu, a dark green pumpkin covered with small raised white spots, is the best one for soup, though the ordinary kind can be used.