Culinary jottings

For cucumber cliutney : — Cut the cucumber into thin strips an inch long ; say three heaped up table-spoonfuls ; mix with them a tea-spoonful of finely-minced onion, one of chopped green chilli, and one of parsley ; moisten with a dessert-spoonful of vinegar in which a pinch of sugar has been dissolved, a dessert-spoonful of salad oil, and dust over it salt and black pepper at discretion. Brinjal cJiiitney is made in this manner : — Boil two or three brinjals, let them get cold, scrape out the whole of the inside of the pods, pass this through the sieve to get rid of the seeds. Rub a soup-plate with a clove of garlic, empty the brinjal pulp therein, dress it with a tea- spoonful of minced onion, one of green chilli, one of vinegar, and a very little green ginger, season with salt and black pepper, pat the mixture into a little mould, and serve in a saucer. Cocoanut chutney consists of pounded cocoanut, flavoured with minced onion and green chilli, green ginger, and an atom of garlic, moistened with tamarind juice, and seasoned with red pepper and salt. Mint chutney is made in the same way, substituting pounded mint for cocoanut. Scald the mint leaves before pounding them. Mango or apple chutney is made like cucumber chutney with the addition of a tea-spoonful of chopped green ginger. Tamarind chutney is a good one : — Pound together a table-spoonful of tamarind pulp and one of green ginger, season it with salt, a tea-spoonful of minced green chillies, and one of mustard seed roasted in butter ; mix thoroughly and serve. Mashed potato chutney is flavoured witli minced onion, green chilli, salt, pepper, vinegar, and a pinch of sugar. With these relishes, curries are undoubtedly far nicer than when sent up unassisted. Treacher's tinned Bombay duclcs when presented with curries only require crisping in a brisk oven. Papodums may either be toasted on a griddle over some clear embers, or fried in hot fat. Thin slices of raw brinjal, and green plantains, similarly fried, like potato chips, are nice with curries. Mulligatunny. If it be admitted that the knack of curry-making has gradually passed away from the native cook, I think it must also be allowed that a really well-made mulligatunny is, comparatively speaking, a thing of the past. Perhaps, then, a few words regarding this really excellent, and at times, most invigorating soup may be acceptable. In attempting this, I am anxious to address my observations to vegetarians, as well as to those who have no objection to eat meat, for I hope to be able to show that a very excellent mulligatunny can be made without any assistance from flesh or fowl.