A REAL INDIAN PILAW

Modern cookery for private families · Acton, Eliza · 1845

Source: Modern cookery for private families
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (11)

For the pilaw

three pounds of bacon ↝ Beef, bacon, cooked [Bacon]
a pair of fowls compactly trussed as for boiling ↝ Guinea hen, meat only, raw [Poultry Products]
three pints and a half of the liquor in which they were boiled
nearly two pounds of well washed Patna rice ↝ Wild rice, raw [Cereal Grains and Pasta]
three onions ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
a quarter of an ounce each of cloves ↝ Garlic, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
peppercorns
half as much of allspice ↝ Spices, allspice, ground [Spices and Herbs]

For Garnish

hot hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters ↝ Eggs, Grade A, Large, egg whole [Dairy and Egg Products]
fried forcemeat-balls
half rings of onion fried extremely dry ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]

Instructions (13)

Boil three pounds of bacon in the usual manner.
Take out the bacon and drop into the same pan a pair of fowls compactly trussed as for boiling.
In three quarters of an hour, unless very large, they will be sufficiently cooked; but they should be thoroughly boiled.
When they are so, lift them out, and place a hot cover and thick cloth over them.
Take three pints and a half of the liquor in which they were boiled.
When the liquor again boils, add nearly two pounds of well washed Patna rice, three onions, a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and peppercorns, with half as much of allspice, tied loosely in a bit of muslin.
Stew these together very gently for three quarters of an hour.
Do not stir them as it breaks the rice.
Take out the spice and onions.
Lay in the fowls if necessary, to heat them quite through.
Dish them neatly with the rice heaped smoothly over them.
Garnish the pilaw with hot hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters, or with fried forcemeat-balls, or with half rings of onion fried extremely dry.
The bacon, heated apart, should be served in a separate dish.

Original Text

A REAL INDIAN PILAW.

Boil three pounds of bacon in the usual manner; take it out and drop into the same pan a pair of fowls compactly trussed as for boiling. In three quarters of an hour, unless very large, they will be sufficiently cooked; but they should be thoroughly boiled. When they are so, lift them out, and place a hot cover and thick cloth over them. Take three pints and a half of the liquor in which they were boiled, and add to it when it again boils, nearly two pounds of well washed Patna rice, three onions, a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and peppercorns, with half as much of allspice, tied loosely in a bit of muslin. Stew these together very gently for three quarters of an hour. Do not stir them as it breaks the rice. Take out the spice and onions; lay in the fowls if necessary, to heat them quite through, and dish them neatly with the rice heaped smoothly over them. Garnish the pilaw with hot hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters, or with fried forcemeat-balls, or with half rings of onion fried extremely dry. The bacon, heated apart, should be served in a separate dish.

Obs.—This is a highly approved receipt supplied to us by a friend who had long experience of it in India; but we would suggest that to be really cooked so as to render it wholesome in this country, a larger quantity of liquid should be added to it, as one pint (or pound) will absorb three pints of water or broth: and the time allowed for stewing it appears to us insufficient for it to become really tender. A Persian Pilaw is made much in the same manner, sometimes with morsels of fried kid mixed with the rice.

614Bacon, 3 lbs., 1-1/2 to 2 hours; fowls, 2.; Rice, nearly 2 lbs. Broth from bacon and fowls, 3-1/2 pints; onions, 3; cloves and peppercorns, 1/4 oz. each; allspice, 1 drachm: 3/4 hour.

Notes

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