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

also remove, and reduce the fire, taking care that

in the process of slow-boiling the pot is never off the boil.

 

104.—Shin of Beef Soup

 

Take a shin of beef, cut it up small, wash it thoroughly, and boil

with pepper and salt in sufficient water to well cover the meat. Let

it boil over a brisk fire, taking away the black scum; add a little

cold water, and skim off the white scum; then reduce the fire, and

allow the soup to simmer until it somewhat thickens; strain the soup,

cut away all the fat, season with soup herbs, and add more pepper and

salt if necessary. Give it a good boil up, and then clear it with the

white of an egg well beaten up, after which add a tablespoonful of Lea

& Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce, and half a wineglassful of sherry.

 

105.—Shin of Beef Soup, with Forcemeat and Egg Balls

 

Prepare a shin of beef soup in all respects according to the above

directions; clear with an egg well beaten up, add to it sauce, sherry,

forcemeat, and egg balls.

 

106.—Vermicelli Soup

 

Prepare a shin of beef soup as directed above, omitting the sauce and

sherry. Parboil some vermicelli, and after clearing the soup with the

white of an egg, add to it the parboiled vermicelli, and give it all a

good boil up before serving.

 

107.—Macaroni Soup

 

Prepare a shin of beef soup as directed above, omitting the sauce and

wine; boil some macaroni until perfectly tender; clear the soup with

the white of an egg, then add the boiled macaroni, and warm up before

serving.

 

108.—Mulligatawny Soup

 

Prepare a shin of beef soup as above, omitting the sauce, wine, and

white of egg; set the soup aside. Take a full-sized curry chicken; cut

it up into sixteen or eighteen pieces, and wash them thoroughly. Warm

a pot and melt it into two chittacks or four ounces of ghee; fry in it

some finely-sliced onions, and set aside. Then fry in the melted ghee

the following condiments, &c.:—Four teaspoonfuls of ground onions,

one teaspoonful of ground turmeric, one teaspoonful of ground chilies,

half a teaspoonful of ground ginger, a quarter of a teaspoonful of

ground garlic, half a teaspoonful of roasted and ground

coriander-seed, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of roasted and ground

cumin-seed.

 

Sprinkle a little water over these while frying; then add the cut-up

chicken with two teaspoonfuls of salt. When nearly brown, add one

chittack or two ounces of roasted and ground poppy-seeds; pour in the

beef soup, add the fried onion and half a dozen of the kurreah fool

leaves, close the pot, and allow the whole to simmer over a slow fire

until the chicken be perfectly tender. Serve up hot, with limes cut in

slices on a separate plate.

 

109.—Another Way

 

Prepare a shin of beef as directed above. Cut up a chicken; wash it

and set it aside. Heat a pot and melt in it two chittacks or four

ounces of ghee. After frying in it and setting aside some

finely-sliced onions, fry the condiments in the proportions given in

the foregoing recipe; then add the cut-up chicken with two

teaspoonfuls of salt; brown it nicely; have ready two chittacks or

four ounces of roasted and ground chunna ka or gram dal, which mix

thoroughly in a cup of strong cocoanut milk, and pour over the chicken

just as it has become brown; stir it well, and add the fried onions

and the soup, with half a dozen of the kurreah fool leaves; close

the pot, and allow the whole to simmer for three-quarters of an hour.

Serve up hot, with limes, either whole or cut in slices, on a separate

plate.

 

110.—Delicious Curry Soup

 

Prepare a strong beef soup; slice some onions, and cut up a chicken;

take curry condiments as directed above, omitting the coriander and

cumin seed; melt two chittacks or four ounces of ghee; fry and set

aside the sliced onions, then fry the condiments, add the cut-up

chicken, and fry that also. In a part of the beef soup boil a spoonful

of tamarind, so as to separate the stocks and stones; strain and stir

it into the fried chicken. After a while add the remainder of the beef

soup, with half a dozen kurreah fool leaves, and the friend onions;

close up the pot, and continue to simmer the whole until the chicken

is quite tender. Serve up hot.

 

111.—Bright Onion Soup

 

Take a shoulder of veal; cut it up small, breaking all the bones; wash

it thoroughly, put it into a pan with pepper, salt, and water, boil it

well, and remove all the scum as it rises; reduce the fire, and let it

simmer until the meat is perfectly dissolved; strain it, cut away all

the fat, add soup herbs, and more pepper and salt if required; give it

a boil up, and clear it with the white of an egg well beaten up; slice

very fine some pure silvery white Patna onions, and steep them in

boiling water, changing the water three or four times, every ten

minutes; drain away all the water and add the onions to the soup;

boil, and serve up hot.

 

112.—Bridal Soup, or Soup Elegant

 

Take two large shoulders of veal; cut them up small, bones and all,

and, after washing thoroughly, boil over a brisk fire, with white

pepper and the best white salt. Be careful that the scum that rises is

well skimmed; reduce the fire, and allow it to simmer until the meat

falls off the bones; strain the soup, let it cool, and then thoroughly

free it of all fat; return it into a clean digester, add more salt and

white pepper if necessary, and some white stocks of celery; boil it,

and clear it with the whites of two eggs well beaten up; strain

through flannel and set aside.

 

Take the best and most transparent parts of a calf’s head and the

tongue, and boil perfectly tender without reducing them to shreds,

being careful to remove all the scum that rises to the surface; lay

the boiled tongue and meat out on a clean dish; slice the tongue fine,

and cut out all manner of devices, such as, diamonds, squares,

circles, hearts, stars, &c.; do the same with the best and cleanest

parts of meat selected from the head; take care that no particles of

scum or other impurities be adhering to them; where any does adhere,

rinse it off in a little of the cleared soup; then place them

carefully into the tureen in which it is purposed to serve up the

soup. If fancy macaroni be procurable, a tablespoonful may be boiled

tender, free of all particles of dust or powder, and added to the

cut-up meat and tongue, over which pour the boiling-hot soup; add to

it a wineglassful of the palest sherry, and serve up hot.

 

N.B.—The calf’s tongue and meat of the head may be boiled with the

veal, but they should be removed when tender, and not allowed to

dissolve with the longer simmering of the veal.

 

This is an elegant soup, beautifully transparent, and of the colour of

light champagne.

 

113.—Soup Royal

 

Take a shin of beef, the best parts of meat cut off from a calf’s

head, and the tongue; cut the beef into small particles, but leave the

tongue and the meat from the calf’s head whole; add pepper and salt,

and boil well, clearing the scum as it rises; remove the tongue and

the meat of the calf’s head when sufficiently tender, but continue to

boil the shin of beef until it is well dissolved; then strain it, and

cut away all the fat; put it up again with plenty of soup herbs, and

more salt and pepper if necessary; boil it well up; squeeze into the

soup the juice of half a lemon, and skim it well; strain it once more,

and set it aside.

 

Cut the tongue into slices of an eighth of an inch thick, trim them

into the shape of large diamonds, and set aside. Cut up the meat of

the calf’s head into one-inch squares and strips of an inch and a half

long and half an inch wide; add to these a few ready-fried circular

flat brain cakes, make also a few egg balls and forcemeat balls, and,

after cooking, add them to the rest of the meat, tongue, &c., and set

aside.

 

Take four red carrots, one pound of green peas, half a pound of boiled

potatoes, one large turnip, one large Patna onion, a quarter of a

pound of roasted and ground split peas or gram dal, some soup herbs,

pepper, and salt, the pulp of one orange, and the peels of half an

orange and half a lemon. Put these into a stewpan with water

sufficient to cover the whole; boil them thoroughly, skimming all the

while; when perfectly dissolved, turn them out into a colander and

allow all the water to drain away; then turn the contents of the

colander into a sieve, and pass the vegetables, &c., through it,

rejecting all such as will not pass. Add the whole, or a part of the

strained vegetables to the soup, which should not be thicker in

consistency than a good thick potato soup.

 

Next stew one dozen good French prunes in a claretglassful of port

wine, which also strain through a sieve, rejecting stones, &c., and

add the strained portion to the soup; then boil the whole, strain it

once more, add to it all the forcemeat and egg balls, the brain cakes,

tongue, &c., and serve up, adding to it more salt, wine, or sauce, if

needed.

 

N.B.—This soup properly made is without its equal.

FISH

114.—Fish Mooloo

 

Fry the fish and let it cool. Scrape a cocoanut, put a teacupful of

hot water into it, rub it well, strain it and put aside; then put two

spoonfuls more of water; strain this also; cut up three or four green

chilies, and as many onions as you like, with half a garlic. Fry them

with a little ghee, and whilst frying put the last straining of the

cocoanut water in with the ingredients till it is dry; then add the

first water of the nut, and pour the whole over the fish, with some

vinegar, ginger, whole pepper, and salt to your taste.

 

115.—Another Way

 

Fry in a little ghee three or four chilies cut up, half a clove of

garlic, and some sliced onions. When half fried, add two

tablespoonfuls of cocoanut milk, and continue to fry until dry; then

stir into it a teacupful of cocoanut milk, a little vinegar, some

sliced ginger, peppercorns, and salt to taste, and while hot pour it

over a cold fried or boiled fish.

 

116.—Another Way

 

Cut up a fish into small, two-inch squares, and fry in ghee, with egg,

bread-crumbs, and turmeric, of a nice brown colour. Boil in cocoanut

milk some sliced green ginger and sliced green chilies; then add the

fish, with salt to taste, and let it stew until the sauce has

thickened. Serve up hot.

 

117.—Prawn Cutlet

 

Shell and wash the prawns; remove the heads, but leave the tails; slit

them down in the centre, and gently beat them flat with a rolling-pin;

sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and some finely-minced soup herbs;

rub them over with yolk of eggs, and dredge with flour; fry over a

very moderate fire to a rich light brown colour. Garnish the dish with

fried green parsley, or serve up with tomato sauce gravy as per recipe

No. 300.

 

118.—Crabs in Shell

 

Clean and boil