The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

30. Soufflés. — 'These can be made of cheese, dried haddocks, &c., and are simply cream or milk thickened with a little flour, to which grated cheese, &c., and whisked eggs are added in a proportion of 4 units eggs to 4 of cream and 1 of grated cheese, &c. Iladdock and anchovy soufflees are really a sort of savoury custard, and are best made by pounding the fish raw and adding a sufficiency of cream and an egg or two to make the whole set. 'I’hey may be poached or baked in little cases. 31. Spinach Toast. — Spread dressed spinach made with a little cream on buttered toast, and lay on each a neatly poached egg 282 The Indian Housekeeper and Cook or a savoury custard cut into a neat shape \ sprinkle pepper over and serve. ‘ 32. Stewed Cheese. — Take 1 unit pounded cheese, 1 of cream, 1 of thin stock, and 1 of yolk of egg. Mix the whole intimately, and lay on a plate over a pan of boiling water. Stir till the cheese melts, then spread on toast ; push into the oven for a minute, and serve. Some people like 1 unit of white wine instead of stock. 33. Toasts are legion, the prime considerations being that the toasts themselves should be crisp and of a pale golden brown, and the various compositions with which they are covered should be boiling hot. Decorations are delightful, of course, but are dear at the price of lukewarmness. A Laodicean toast is horrible. But there is no more economical savoury than a toast, for the veriest remnant can be made into a palatable morsel and given a fine name. 34. Tomato Jelly. — Two units Swinbourne’s gelatine, or 1 of powdered, dissolved in 8 units water, and added to 12 units strained tomato pulp. Turn out on a bed of minced parsley, and grate cheese over. They are very good set in small dariol moulds, with a little pâté de foie in the centre of each. 35. Zephyrs.— Four units eggs whisked together, 4 units thick whipped cream, 1 of warm butter, (i of smoked haddock or herring, the meat of six Norwegian anchovies, 1 unit grated cheese. Mix, steam in little moulds. When cold, eggs and crumb, or batter and fry. CHAPTER XXX dressed vegetables Indian vegetables are often called insipid, but the fault lies chiefly in the disgraceful way in which they are cooked. It is no uncommon thing to find them all boiling in one saucepan, or even in the soup, the result being one confused want of flavour. This habit should be sternly reproved, and the cook taught that it is better to have one vegetable decently cooked than half-a-dozen which are not worth eating. All vegetables should be well washed and picked, and the water should be boiling furiously before they are put into it, otherwise all the goodness and flavour pass into the water. Salt should never be omitted, and a little soda may be added to green vegetables. In hot weather few things are more wholesome and appetising than dressed vegetables, and yet, except in curries, it is rare to see them at Indian tables. Most of the following recipes would, with a thick soup to begin with, form a light and tempting luncheon when heavier meat dishes could not be touched.