Practical West African cookery

Note. — If preferred, the apples, when soft, can be passed through the sieve and served in a puree. All other Prevet fruits are prepared in the same way, except that they must never be passed through a sieve. They must always cook very slowly. Paw Paw Compote. (1). 1 quite unripe paw paw. J pint boiling water. 1 tablespoon sugar. A little peel and the juice of a lime. 2 cloves. 1. Peel the paw paw and clean out the seeds. Cut it in slices about a quarter of an inch thick, enough to fill a breakfast cup. 2. Boil the half pint water iu the small enamel saucepan with the sugar, lime peel and juice and the cloves. When boiling put in the sliced paw paw and continue boiling very slowly for an hour and a half till the paw paw is quite soft and has absorbed nearly all the water. Pass the paw paw and the juice that still remains through the sieve into the glass dish and serve cold. Paw paws are delicious done in this way and taste almost like fresh apples. Mangoe Compote. (I). Take five or six mangoes, full grown but still green. Peel and slice all the flesh from the stone. Put the slices in the small enamel saucepan with enough water to cover and one tablespoon sugar. Bring slowly to the boil, set aside and simmer till the slices are quite soft. Serve in the juice they have cooked in. This same compote, cooked a little longer so that all the water is absorbed, and with a little more sugar, can keep for a long time if put in a glass bottle with a tight fitting cover. Paw Paw Tart. (II). 1 quite unripe paw paw. i pint water. 1 tablespoon sugar. A little peel and juice of a lime. 2 cloves. Pie crust (see index). 1. Cut the paw paw in slices enough to fill up a breakfast cup and cook it exactly as for a paw paw compote. Do not mash it, but put the slices and the juice in the middle size pie-dish. 2. With a feather, wet the edges of the pie-dish. Have ready the paste for the pie crust Cut a strip the width of the edge of the dish and lay it all round. Wet it with the feather and then lay the remainder of the paste over the dish, press down the edges lightly all round the dish and cut off evenly what is left hanging down. 3. Put the pie in the oven and bake for about half an hour. Serve hot or cold with small glasses of custard (see index) if liked. Note. — An apple tart can be made in exactly the same way, using a square of dried Prevet apples. They should, of course, not be passed through the sieve before putting them in the pie-dish. Bottled fruit to be used in a tart must always simmer with a little added sugar for about half an hour before putting it in the pie dish. Glasses of custard served with any fruit tart are always an improvement. Fruit Salad. (I). Whenever possible, keep the tin of fruit in a cooler overnight. Empty the contents into a glass dish an hour or two before serving, add to them two good tablespoons gin, or kirsch, or brandy, and a little crushed sugar. Stand till required in a cool place. Two different kinds of fruit, plums and apricots, or pears and peaches, make a good salad which can be further improved by adding some slices of preserved ginger. Best of all is a salad made of one tin of fruit mixed with fresh pine apple, or bananas, or oranges if obtainable. ♦ee*