Banquets of the nations

Boil three quarters of a pound of rice and a quarter of a pound of yellow peas till half cooked ; strain, and stir this into half a pound of boiling ghee and some more seasonings. Cook for a minute or two ; then put it in the pot with the chicken, along with four ounces of cleaned and split almonds, four ounces of dry white grapes, and a teaspoonful of saffron. Stir all together, and close the pot very closely, and cook till meat, etc., are tender. There should be very little moisture, but add more water if necessary, as great care must be taken that no charring takes place. Eat with bread, and any of the vegetables as cooked in Brahmin recipes. Seik Kawab. (Grilled Pickled Lamb.) Put in an earthenware dish four teaspoonfuls of ground onions, one teaspoonful of ground large red chillies, half teaspoonful of ground green ginger, half teaspoonful BOMBAY (Mussulman) of poppy seeds, one teaspoonful of ground coriander seeds, a pinch of saffron, a good pinch of ground cloves, one and a half teaspoonfuls of salt, four ounces of milk curd, juice of a lemon, two tablespoonfuls of mustard oil, and a little melted butter (ghee). Give all a good stir so that they may be thoroughly mixed. Cut two pounds of lamb into neat squares of about two inches, score them deeply on both sides (do this in opposite directions so as to avoid cutting right through the pieces), and pickle in the above mixture for two hours, turning repeatedly so that all the meat will absorb the mixture. Dry and thread these squares on to a sufficient number (six on each) of thin pieces of bamboo or ordinary skewers, and grill, basting as often as possible with ghee mixed with a little of the liquid in which they were pickled. Before serving take them off the skewers, and eat with bread, such as chapatee, phulka, etc., and chutnies. Kichri. (Curried Mutton.) Cut two pounds of mutton into quarter-inch squares. Fry in four ounces ghee (melted butter) two large onions cut in thin slices ; when light brown, place to the one side, and fry for two minutes in the same ghee a teaspoonful each of turmeric, coriander, aniseed, and cardamoms, half that quantity of garlic, cinnamon, cloves, and green ginger, a red chilli, and some salt. Add more ghee, and fry a large cupful of washed rice, and the same quantity of lentils. Fry the pieces of mutton lightly on both sides. Put meat, onions, condi- 257 R merits, rice and dal all together in a pan; pour in two cupfuls of water and half a cupful of ghee. Mix all together, and bring to the boil ; then place the pan at the side of the fire to cook slowly till the meat is tender. Add more water if the mixture is too dry. May be eaten with bread and any of the vegetables and chutnies given in the Brahmin dinner. Basundi ne Puri. (Cream and Pancakes.) Basundi. Reduce four pints of milk to a quarter its bulk by boiling, and add to it one pound castor sugar. After it gets a bit cool, add three ounces of almonds thinly sliced, a quarter ounce of cardamoms, and two ounces of " chironzia sapida" seeds (roughly chopped almonds will do equally well). It is served cold in the form of a thick liquid paste, and eaten with puri.