CURRIED LUNCHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15234, 22 February 1913, Page 6 (Supplement)

CURRIED LUNCHES.

GENUINE MADRAS AND CEYLON | RECIPES. "Some people," said Dr. Johnson, "have a foolish way of not minding, pretending not to mind 1 what they eat." , Standards of lunching and dining change like everything else, but there is little reason for.belief that those who give the most recherche of all meals nowadays —the well-ordered lunch, replete with primours and wit, and brief-to a faultignore new fashions in food any more than they forget, the<pld rules of the past. Every season has its plat renomme. Today we have curries. The curry which is so much to the fore just now is, of course, an old friend revived. In tho sarly days, when our great grandfathers returned from their life-long exiles to the East Indies with a rajah's dowry in rupees, Indian lacquer inlay, trA ivory galore, -nd an unappeasable taste for fiery curries, , chutaeys, and. kebobs were common property. There is, as a matter of fact, nothing to beat the old curries of the past, and the modern chef of the day who excels in some new hot dish is probably merely picking up unconsciously the old threads of 100 years (V.oan- . apple and currants —which do so •.--oh. to itcorove the flavour of a curry, har.- '0 be handled with extrciuu care. If . , lijcipo orders a small apple, with the other ingredients, it is only practice which is able to settle how much is required. Some fnr't is excessively acid, while others — ~weete.- —must be used in, double quintettes. )''; is the sanv with all the other ingredif-.-*>». u . '- Ci' .-»■ ," io quota an ola auth V is never fo be eaten at a . ouse w' r ■ the host :>£V-3 you a potato with 'ore dee." Tho same is perfectly true to-day. No vegetable is served . with the curried en-te..-es of the day, wihle they are invariably dished in the small poto— for each person —which preserves the heat so r'uth better than a j&ce entree dish. _ The old Ceylon cur.: , which in its day r,, famous, had to be eaten in tho land of a invention to be thoroughly enjoyed, -.._ el""- mixture being prepared fresh Beery ' in. .ling. . Car> mi:i and coriander seeds, cloves ct garlic, s?-iall onions, turmeric, grated c';co:innt,,T, little limo r-%ther than lemon, >p.*63n gingeiv ch'Hs, -tint peppercorns represent the chief, ingredients, which w»re mixed half an hour befrvd the dish was to-be prepared. ,"■".-.•' One of the best curries starts operations with the white heart of a cabbage or a lettuce. , • This is pared down until it i-; the size of in egg. After chopping it, two peeled apples are sliced finely,, and mixed together with a tablespoonf of curry powder, the juice of a lemon, black pepper, six !onions,y preview y finely hopped and fried brown, a mi l ,ed clove -a garlic, two, ounces of fresh two ounces of flour', and a pint of beef gravy. The secret Has in well simmering the mixture first, and then adding the fish or fowl, which is then cooked slowly once more, : For curried -chicken—according to a Madras recipe—there- should be, the chicken cut in neat pieces, together with & sliced onion fried in two tablespoon nils of butter, half that quaninty of curry powder, a spoonful of green ginger— of which, with the exception of the chicken, being pounded finely, -eso must be fried together for five mifi.:tes, and the chicken is added. After adding it, the whole must be stirred continually .for ten minutes, -when three-quarters of a. pint of good gravy - should . be; added ;. with h«lf a teaciipM. of fijesK-CQCijanut aulk, and salt to taste. The 'carry is th*«i'-drawn to the' Bids of the fire>and. shtxu iffu-'V very gently for a a hour and a hail'. Just-before serving tc the centre of ligfitly boiled rice, *;he jjdicoi; oifO, lemon should be squeezed oyer the chicken. " Vegetarian curries w almost irnknqwn in the day of the Ea*t India Company, Vl;an these dishes we:*;* firiit in vogue. To-day, however, there is a cult for meatless curries, most of which have reS;hed us from Ameirica. There a&, baked tomatoes stuffed with green eoih, and mastoid with -ouwy sauce, and creamed ; fried potato*..; and fried potatoes, with a hot sauce of '.'"i«ray powder, chili, an 3• > 'huta^ey. A thnbale of mushrooms and macaroni served with curry sauce, or curried mushrooms en casserole also b?long to the American cuisine which is .being introtenduced nowadays. "White _ haricot \*zja& en casserole are curried •wit'a -TAfd-hiiled cgps. vdiile the remains of >#£&:: j >?:pheas*B', cut in small pieces, ) arc*, f. iTved in i ,!l mai'B;i f /es with covers one for each ?,6>"*ion—-tfcs being first lined with boiled rice, They ars. then. filled "r'th th '.. delicious mixture .pi cooked p'-v-Kit:. stevred c v ?-"berries, curry sauee, 'iu'tj-!-, and raisin.' ail bayi':;:,b"eenpre- '■■</■&. '-. ■ ; ; mered V'-y alaiily t^g^ther.' 'Qiiriij. oysters are'much isiprrived; if a -1.-tie "our apple—or, if possible, tamarind— mixed with the fish. Tomatoes, coacoanut, lemon-juice, and either cauliflower or spinach may also be mixed with the prepared curry sauce, and served with the oysters and macaroni in the form of of a ragout. • Curried shrimps and • cauliflower. should be served in small marmites with boiled rice or macaroni, a few raisins and currants, simmered very slowly ■ with / the other ingredients . greatly improving the curry, which must be eaten as hot as possible.