Banquets of the nations

To make a leban take a tumbler and a half of milk, bring it to the boil, pour it into a basin, and let it cool until you can put your little finger in and count ten. If it is too hot it will get watery, and if it is colder than that it will not thicken. Take a teaspoonful of lemon juice and put it in three places in the basin ; stir it gently till you think it is well mixed ; put it in a warm place, with a plate over it ; cover it first with a clean cloth and then with a woollen shawl or thick piece of flannel. Let no air get to it, and stand for seven hours without being moved. You may now use it either with sweet milk or sugar, or preserves. Save a little of this in a cup (say a tablespoonful), and the second time you make it, when your milk is ready as above, use no lemon, but add a little warm milk to what you set aside in the cup ; make it smooth, and add three teaspoonfuls of the same, putting it in three different places in the basin. Stir it softly, as above, and cover it as in the first stage. The third time you do this it should bring it to the thickness of slaked lime. Always keep a little of the leban you make in a cup for the next time you want to use it. How to Boil Rice in Native Fashion. Steep two pounds of rice in water. Put on the fire a clean saucepan with a quarter of a pound of butter ; let this boil on the fire ; it is ready when it frizzles. Add a quart and a half of water ; let it boil. Wash the rice in two or three waters, rubbing it in your hands ; strain it thoroughly, put it into the saucepan, adding a little salt ; put a wooden spoon in the middle, and if it will stand straight without holding it the water is enough, but if it falls the water is too much. Cover it close with a lid, and cook on a slow fire, without stirring. When it is ready, after an hour's cooking, take the end of a spoon and stir it ; every particle will be separate. Daoud Pasha Riz. (Meat Balls and Rice.) Take two pounds of lean meat, pound it in the mortar as you did for " kibby," with a pinch of pounded caraway seed, and pepper and salt to taste. Take a piece of the pounded meat the size of a good-sized marble, put it on the palm of your hand, and with your finger beat it flat ; then take two snowbar seeds (pine cone seeds or pistachio nuts) and fold the meat over this. Fry them in cooking butter till they are a nice brown ; take them out, clear from fat, and put them into a pot. Then take eight or ten good-sized onions cut small, fry them in the same fat you fried the balls of meat in, until brown ; drain them from fat, put them with the meat, add a handful of snowbar (pine cone seeds or pistachio nuts) on the top of all ; squeeze the juice of three or four good-sized tomatoes through a strainer over the whole in a pot, add a tumblerful of water ; stir the whole with a spoon, taking care not to break the balls of meat, and season to taste. This is served with a good dish of rice. Riz B'titbeeka. (Meat and Rice Shape.)