Banquets of the nations

To every two quarts of the very best vinegar put one and a half ounces of white ginger, scraped and sliced, the same of long pepper, two ounces of peeled shallots, one ounce peeled garlic, one and a half ounces salt, one ounce turmeric, one ounce coriander, half ounce mace, pinch of cayenne, and one ounce mustard seeds. Boil for a few minutes. Have ready a shred white cabbage and a cauliflower broken into small branches, some small white radishes, young French beans (stringed), small gherkins, and small silver onions. Pour boiling brine over them, and let steep for three days. Drain and dry in a cloth, and then thoroughly dry on a sieve in front of the fire. Place this in bottles with the vinegar. Keep uncorked for two days, and put more vinegar in when required, as the vegetables must be completely covered. Cork and seal with wax to exclude all air. XXXIV.— CENTRAL PROVINCES (Brahmin) Menu Bhat Dahl Ghee (Rice) (Lentils) (Clarified Butter) Aloobhat (Curried Rice and Potatoes) S6m Badre (Broad Beans) (Curried Tomatoes) Wilpussan Chahkee Mutter Chahkee (Curried Turnips) (Green Peas) Dahl Falooree (Spiced Lentil Crusts) Karanji Sa-oo Bhahjees (Cocoanut Croquettes) (Baked Apples) Shrikhand (Sugared Cream) Hulluah (Cinnamon Sweet) CENTRAL PROVINCES (Brahmin) Bhat. (Rice.) Wash the rice thoroughly, and, having put it in a pot, add water until it reaches a level about three inches higher than the rice. Boil until rice is soft, then cover the pot and leave it on the hot embers until the fire dies out. No water is poured off, and nothing else is added. Dahl. (Lentils.) First boil the water, and when fully boiling put in some split lentils and allow them to become soft. After putting in the lentils, and when boiling point is again reached, add a little turmeric powder. Allow the contents to simmer half an hour, stir well, add hot water, and some salt. Aloobhat. (Curried Rice and Potatoes.) Half pound of rice, one pound potatoes. Wash rice well, and cut potatoes into thin slices. Put rice in four ounces boiling ghee, stir a little, and then take out. Put a thin layer of this rice in a pot, and place upon it a thin layer of raw potato. Again rice and again potato, and so on until material is used up. Put the pot upon a slow fire. Another pot full of water is placed upon the first, so that the vapour from the first may condense and fall back into the lower pot. Finally salt, chillies, cloves, and cinnamon are added on removing from fire. Sem. (Curried Beans.) Wash and steep in clean water two pounds of red or white beans (haricot) for twelve hours ; strain and fry lightly in four ounces of boiling linseed oil in which you have first fried a teaspoonful of mustard seeds ; add one teaspoonful each of cumin, coriander, and turmeric, a very little green ginger, one sliced green chilli, one ground red chilli , a large cupful of water, and a teaspoonful of salt, and stew till the beans are quite tender. Use the water that the beans were steeped in for the stewing. Eat with rice, bread, ghee, chutney, etc. Sultana Chutney.