The Indian Cookery Book by - (good fiction books to read txt) 📕

tie them securely with strong sewing cotton, and

put them into bottles, with vinegar sufficient to cover them; cork the

bottles well, and expose them to the sun for fifteen to twenty days.

The pickle will be ready for use in three or four months.

 

To prevent the pickle spoiling, it is not unusual to pour a

tablespoonful or two of mustard oil over it when in the bottle.

 

345.—Sweet Mango Pickle

 

Peel and quarter a hundred green mangoes, and steep them in salt for

thirty-six hours; drain off the salt water, wipe the mangoes dry, and

put them into a preserving-pan, with a seer or two pounds of sliced

ginger, and half a seer of chilies finely sliced; pour in a syrup made

of sugar and vinegar (half a seer of the former in two quarts of the

latter), and allow the whole to simmer for ten to fifteen minutes;

bottle when quite cold.

 

346.—Long Plum Pickle

 

Take the long plums, or what the natives call nar kollee bhyar;

remove the peel, and keep them in salt in the sun for a day or two;

drain away the salt water, and put them into bottles, in layers

alternately with fresh chilies, cloves of garlic, ginger finely

sliced, and peppercorns; add a little more salt, and pour in as much

vinegar as will cover the whole; cork and expose to the sun for

fifteen to twenty days. This is one of the most delicious of Indian

pickles; it will not be fit for use until the plums have pickled for

six months.

 

347.—Sweet Long Plum Pickle

 

Is made in every respect according to the foregoing recipe, with the

addition of a syrup in the proportion of a quarter of a pound of sugar

to every quart of vinegar, and a few sticks of cinnamon.

 

348.—Round Plum Pickle

 

Get the perfectly ripe fruit, which the natives call cool; put them

into a damp cloth, and roll them about to free them of dust; sprinkle

them well with salt, and stand them in the sun for three or four days;

then drain away all the water, and bottle the plums alternately with

cloves of garlic, green or fresh red chilies, sliced ginger,

peppercorns, and ground mustard-seed; add a little salt, fill up the

bottles with vinegar, and cork, and expose them to the sun for fifteen

to twenty days.

 

349.—Round Plum Pickle with Mustard Oil

 

Is made like the above, the only difference being that some mustard

oil is poured over the vinegar, and allowed to float about an eighth

of an inch thick over the surface.

 

350.—Dry Fruit Pickle

 

This is the pickle of all pickles. Take equal quantities of “dry

dates,” called the shawarah, khobanee, or Arabian apricots;

allobhokara, a species of Arabian plum or damson; English prunes,

rather of the dry sort; and Normandy dry pippins. Wash and clean them

thoroughly, particularly the Arabian dry fruits, which are very dirty,

and dry them well in the sun. Stew the dry dates for ten to fifteen

minutes, cut them up into rings, and throw away the stones. Make a

syrup of good French vinegar, in the proportion of a quarter of a

pound of good clean sugar to a quart of French vinegar. After

quartering the pippins, arrange them and the other fruit in a

wide-mouthed bottle in alternate layers, with finely-sliced ginger,

peppercorns, sticks of cinnamon, and small sprinklings of salt; then

pour over the whole as much of the vinegar syrup as will entirely

cover the fruit; cork the bottle well down, expose it to the sun for a

few days, and it will be fit for use in a month.

 

351.—Green Mint Vinegar

 

Put into a wide-mouthed bottle enough fresh, clean mint-leaves to fill

it loosely, and fill it up with good vinegar. After it has been

stopped close for two or three weeks, pour off the vinegar clear into

another bottle, and keep it well corked for use. Serve with lamb or

kid when fresh mint cannot be obtained.

 

352.—Another Way

 

Fill a wide-mouthed bottle with fresh, full-grown, green mint-leaves;

pour in a quart of vinegar; after ten or fifteen days strain away the

liquor, and re-fill the bottle with fresh leaves; pour back the

liquor, and after it has steeped for ten or fifteen days longer,

strain and bottle for use as required.

 

353.—Horseradish Vinegar

 

To three ounces of finely-scraped horseradish add a quart of vinegar

and a drachm of cayenne, some black pepper and celery-seeds, and one

ounce of bruised onions; after eight or ten days filter the vinegar,

which will serve as an excellent relish for cold beef, salads, &c.,

and for the preparation of mustard.

 

354.—Chili Vinegar

 

Pick, clean, and put into a glass-stoppered bottle one chittack or two

ounces of birds’-eye chilies, and pour over them a pint and half of

the best vinegar; after a month’s time filter through blotting-paper a

pint of the vinegar; add to what remains half a pint more of vinegar,

and expose it to the sun for a few days, when the second portion will

also be ready for use.

 

355.—Essence of Chilies

 

Pick one chittack or two ounces of the best dried Patna chilies;

expose them to a hot sun for an hour; then pound them to as fine a

powder as possible; put the powder into a stoppered bottle with a

teaspoonful of salt, pour over it as much vinegar only as will form a

limp paste, and expose it to the sun for a few days; then pass it

through muslin, adding to it as much more vinegar as will reduce it to

the consistency of some thick sauce.

 

356.—To Preserve Lime-juice

 

Squeeze and strain a pint of lime-juice; put into a basin one pound of

double-refined sugar finely pounded and sifted, add the lime-juice,

and stir it with a silver spoon till the sugar is perfectly dissolved.

Bottle it, and cork it tightly; seal the cork, or tie bladder over it,

and keep it in a dry, cool place.

 

357.—To Purify Lime-juice

 

To a quart of strained lime-juice add an ounce of well-burnt and

finely-pounded animal charcoal; in twelve hours filter it through

blotting-paper, and put it into small phials; cork these tightly, and

keep them in a cool place; a thick crust will form beneath the corks,

and the mucilage will fall to the bottom.

 

358.—Green Mint-juice

 

If for immediate use, extract it with water, but if required to keep

for a few days, take brandy for the purpose. Pick and clean half a

dozen large stalks of good fresh mint, and pound the leaves in a

mortar with a dessertspoonful of water, or with brandy, then put them

into muslin and squeeze out all the liquor. Juice may be extracted a

second time by a little more water or brandy being added, and the

leaves rebruised and pressed through muslin.

 

359.—Green Ginger-juice

 

Is extracted in the same manner as mint-juice.

 

360.—Juice of Onions and Garlic

 

Is extracted by pounding the condiment in a mortar with a little

water, and squeezing the juice through muslin.

 

361.—Mustard

 

There are various ways of preparing mustard for the table, each with

its admirers, yet in nine houses out of ten it is often so execrably

done as to mar the best dinner, through the loss of its piquancy and

pungency. Be the quantity ever so small, it should never be prepared

in a cup, but in a soup or other deep plate. The dry mustard, with a

little salt, should first be well rubbed down with the back of a

spoon; the water, vinegar, or other liquid should then be gradually

added, and mixed gently until the required consistency has been

obtained; it should then be mixed briskly, turning the spoon one way

only, and in a few minutes the pungency of the mustard will tell on

the eyes; put it immediately into the mustard-pot, and cork it,

removing the cork only when the mustard is required for use. It is a

mistake to suppose that the little silver or plated lid to a

mustard-pot is intended, or is sufficient, to preserve the piquancy

and pungency of the condiment. The practice which prevails in some

houses of allowing the spoon to remain immersed in the mustard, which

has probably been prepared with vinegar, the spoon perhaps being a

plated one, is very objectionable.

 

It is scarcely necessary to give any further instructions, excepting

that hot water should not be used. Some like mustard prepared simply

with water; others prefer weak vinegar and water. It is also prepared

with plain vinegar, with tarragon vinegar, with vinegar taken from

pickles and capers, and with onion and garlic juice. The best mustard

for roast beef is that prepared with horseradish; the most delicate

flavoured is that made with tarragon vinegar, or vinegar taken from

capers.

 

INDIAN PRESERVES, JAMS, JELLIES, AND MARMALADES

 

Hints about the Making of Preserves

 

It is not generally known that boiling fruit a long time without

sugar, in an open preserving-pan, and skimming it well, is a very

economical way, as the whole of the scum rises from the fruit, and

boiling without a cover allows the evaporation of all the watery

particles. Preserves boiled in this way keep firm and well-flavoured.

Jam made as above, with the addition of a quarter of a pound of good

pure sugar to every pound of fruit, is excellent.

 

362.—To Detect Adulteration of Sugar

 

The adulteration of brown sugar may be detected by dissolving a little

in a glass of clear water; if sand or any similar substance be

present, it will after a while fall to the bottom of the glass. If

white sugar, adulterated with flour, chalk, or other similar

substances, be dissolved in clear water, the latter will become opaque

or discoloured, and a sediment will be formed at the bottom of the

glass.

 

363.—White Syrup

 

Put a quart of water over the fire in a well-tinned and clean copper

stewpan; when on the boil, drop into it lump by lump one pound of the

best loaf sugar; let it well boil up, and after all the sugar is

thoroughly dissolved, pour it into a broad dish to cool. When cold it

is fit for use.

 

364.—Brown Syrup

 

Take a pound of brown sugar-candy called misseree, and prepare the

syrup as directed above. After all the sugar is thoroughly dissolved,

strain it through a sheet of stout blotting-paper spread on muslin,

and allow the syrup to drip into a broad dish. Use it when quite cold.

 

365.—To Clarify Sugar

 

To every three pounds of loaf sugar allow the beaten white of one egg

and a pint and a half of water; break the sugar small, put it into a

nicely cleaned brass pan, and pour the water over it; let it stand

some time before it be put upon the fire; then add the beaten white of

the egg, stir till the sugar be entirely dissolved, and when it boils

up pour in a quarter of a pint of cold water, and let it boil up a

second time; then remove it from the fire and let it settle for

fifteen minutes; carefully take off all the scum, put it again on the

fire, and boil till sufficiently thick, or, if required, till candy

high: in order to ascertain this, drop a little from a spoon into a

cup of cold water, and if it become quite hard, it is sufficiently

done; or dip the handle of a wooden spoon into the sugar, plunge it

into cold water, and draw off the sugar which adheres; if the sugar be