RECIPES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 49, 6 December 1890, Page 14

RECIPES.

Rice for Curries. —The proper way to boil rice for curries is the following :—To begin with, Patna rice is the right kind to use. One of the great things in cooking rice for curry is to boil it in plenty of water, and not cook it too long. And then dry it thoroughly afterwards. First of all put the rice into a pan, cover it with cold water, add a little salt, and bring the water to the boil quickly ; then strain the water from the rice, and rinse it well. After this the rice must be put into plenty of boiling water and boiled fast for about ten minutes. As soon as it is tender the water must be drained from it, and the rice, which should be put into a colander, should be dried either in a cool oven or l>efore the fire in a screen until it is quite dry. It will take an hour or two to dry and should be lightly stirred with a fork from time to time. To stew a rump steak with rich gravy, put it into a stewpan with a little dripping, and let it fry with the cover on the pan for abont a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, and it should be turned once. Then the steak should be well sprinkled with flour, and either some small onions added to it whole, or some large ones sliced, one or two cloves, also a few black peppercorns and a chili or two, and a little walnut pickle or mushroom ketchup. The steak must then be covered with cold water or stock, and cooked slowly. The time, of course, will depend on the size of the steak. A steak weighing two and a-half pounds will take quite an hour and a-halfs gentle cooking. Gooseberry Pudding.—A correspondent has very kindly sent me the following recipe for a pudding made with gooseberries :—Take half a pint of gooseberries and remove stems, etc., cook them in a jar in the oven until tender with sufficient sugar to sweeten them (I should say a quarter of a pound), and a little cold water. When the fruit is cooked set it aside until quite cold, and then add half an ounce of butter which has been mixed with two eggs. Well butter a mould, and then mask it thickly with castor sugar and breadcrumbs, and pour the fruit caiefully into it. Cover the top with breadcrumbs and castor sugar to the thickness of half an inch, and bake the pudding in the oven from threequarters of an hour to one hour, covering the top with a buttered paper. When cooked turn out of the mould, and serve either hot or cold with whipped cream which has been sweetened and flavoured. Gooseberry Preserve.—Let the fruit, if used green, which I consider makes by far the nicest jam, be fully grown before you use it. Take equal weights of sugar and gooseberries ; let it boil quickly about an honr. If ripe fruit is used, the red kind is usually considered the best. Gather on a fine, diy day, and only preserve good sound fruit. Tail and head the berries caiefully. Less sugar is required for ripe berries. Gooseberry jelly is also nice. Cape gooseberry mixes well with this jam.