Pick and wash well 1/4 lb. yellow lentils and bring to boil in water to cover. Do the same with 3 ozs. rice. The lentils and rice may be boiled together, but are nicer done separately. Add to onion, &c., in saucepan, along with seasoning to taste of curry powder, &c. Some tomato pulp or chutney is very good. Mix lightly so as not to make it pasty. Remove from fire, add a beaten egg, and press into a plain buttered mould. Tie down with buttered paper and steam for one hour. Turn out and serve with tomato sauce. It may also be garnished with slices of hard-boiled egg, beetroot, fried tomatoes, &c.
Kedgeree.
A very good kedgeree is made with much the same ingredients as above. The lentils may be left out, and chopped tomato or carrot flaked (on one of those threesome graters is best) and fried along with the onion, may be used instead. The rice must be boiled as for curry and made very dry. Boil 2 or 3 eggs hard, chop finely, and mix with the other ingredients in saucepan. Make all very hot, and serve piled up on hot dish with any suitable garnish and curry or tomato sauce. A spoonful finely chopped parsley would be an improvement to both this and rice mould. Fried parley and thin slices of lemon make a suitable garnish for this and similar dishes, while parsley fried in fat at a low temperature, 200 degrees, crushed and sprinkled over a mould, cutlets, &c., both looks and tastes good. Any kedgeree that is left over will make excellent cutlets for breakfast, &c.
Macaroni Mould
is made by using cooked macaroni instead of rice in recipe for rice mould.
Macaroni Timbale.
Boil 6 ozs. long pipe macaroni--in as long pieces as convenient--in salted boiling water 20 to 25 minutes, and drain. Have a plain mould--a small enamel pudding basin is best--butter it well, and line closely round it with the macaroni. Fill in with any savoury mixture, such as lentils, tomatoes, mushrooms, celery, carrots, &c. Put more strips of macaroni or a slice of buttered bread on the top. Cover with buttered paper and steam 1-1/2 hours. Turn out and serve with sauce. Garnish suitably, cooked tomatoes, &c.
Roman Pie
Boil 4 ozs. macaroni and drain. Butter a pie-dish and put in half the macaroni. Scald 4 or 5 tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes, when the skin will come off easily. Boil 2 eggs hard and slice. Have 2 ozs. cheese grated, and sprinkle half of it over the macaroni, then put half of the eggs and half the tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, and a little grated onion (I keep an old grater for the purpose). Take 8 or 10 medium-sized flap mushrooms, if to be had, clean and trim, removing the stalks. Add a layer of them, and repeat as before, but put the mushrooms before the tomatoes. Cover the top thickly with bread-crumbs. Make a stock with the trimmings of mushrooms and tomatoes. Put dessertspoonful butter in saucepan, stir in _half_ teaspoon flour, same of made mustard, and perhaps a little ketchup. Add the stock--there should be about a teacupful--stir till it boils, and pour equally over the pie. Dot over with bits of butter, and bake one hour in fairly brisk oven.
In case this pie may be voted rather elaborate by some, I may say that it is excellent with several of the items left out. The eggs, mushrooms, cheese--any one of these, or all three may be dispensed with, and what may be lost in richness and flavour will be compensated in delicacy and digestibility. Any of this pie that is left over may be made into cutlets, so that one can have a second dish with little extra trouble.
NOTE.--When fresh tomatoes are not to be had tinned ones will do.
Tomato and Rice Pie.
Wash well a teacupful good rice--Patna is best for this dish as it does not become so pulpy as the Carolina--and put on with cold water to cover and a little salt. Allow to cook slowly till it has absorbed all the water. Add a little more if too dry, but do not stir. Peel 1 lb. tomatoes, cut in 1/2 inch slices and put a layer in buttered pie-dish. Put in the rice--or as much of it as wanted--sprinkle with curry and seasoning to taste.