Mulligatawny Soup.—For this take about three to
four pints of any good second stock (unless preparing
special Indian, or the clear mulligatawny, it is a pity
to use any very first-rate stock, as the condiments
added to it would destroy its flavour at any rate),
made from bones, chicken giblets, bacon rinds, two
or three onions (one stuck with a clove) a carrot, and
a good bunch of herbs, to which you may, if you
like, add a teaspoonful of Liebig's beef extract, and
strain, cool, and skim well. Now put into a basin
two tablespoonfuls of fresh grated cocoanut (or the
desiccated will do), and the same of freshly ground
almonds, and pour on to this a short half pint of
boiling water, cover the basin with a saucer or a
thick cloth, and let the nuts steep; melt 1½oz. of
butter in a good-sized stewpan, and lay into it 2oz.
of finely minced shallots, or common onions, and a
small clove of garlic, and fry these very gently till
they begin to colour, when you add two table
spoonfuls of mulligatawny paste, or one of the paste
and one of the curry, together with a dessert
spoonful of fine rice flour (or crème de riz), and stir
it slowly over the fire with a wooden spoon, keeping
it steadily, but gently, cooking for seven or eight
minutes, adding a little more butter if it gets too
dry. At this point put in a gill of the stock, and
stir it all well into the mixture, incorporating it care
fully, adding more and more stock as the previous
quantity is worked in, till you have put in all the
stock; then bring it all sharply to the boil, skim well,
and let it simmer from fifteen to twenty minutes,
when you strain and thicken it carefully with brown
roux (1½oz. of flour cooked till smooth and coloured
with 1oz. of butter.) As was said before, it is
better always to keep some roux, both white and
brown, at hand, as either preparation, but the
brown especially, takes some little time to prepare
properly. When the soup is quite smooth, add
the infusion from the nuts wrung through a napkin,
re-heat almost to boiling-point and serve. If liked,
the yolk of an egg may be beaten up with a gill of
the soup, then returned to the latter and well stirred
in at the last moment. Rice is of course served with
this, and should be boiled in this way:—Put into a
four-quart saucepan enough water to three-parts fill it,
add to this the juice of half a lemon, and a dessert
spoonful of salt; bring this sharply to the boil, and
when boiling hard drop into it 4oz. to 6oz. of well
cleaned rice, and keep the water hard at the boil,
stirring the rice now and again gently; when the rice
has been on the fire for about ten minutes test a
grain now and again, pressing it between your finger
and thumb, till you find that the rice is tender
through, though still quite firm; at this point dash
in at once about a pint of ice-cold water, and drain
off all the liquid from the rice, returning the latter
to the hot stewpan, shaking this well as you do so,
then set it in a warm corner at the side of the stove,
and leave it to dry, well covered with a clean cloth,
gently shaking the pan now and again to separate
the grains; adding in a few minutes ½oz. of fresh
butter, and as this melts, the rice will fall from the
sides of the pan. This drying process takes quite ten
to fifteen minutes and must not be hurried. It is very
difficult to make English cooks understand that rice
must be cooked in an abundance of water, which
must be boiling hard before the rice is added, that