Yellow Rice

> Ingredients

1 ½ measures table-rice or good muttusamba rice

3 oz. ghee or dripping

6 oz. red onions (sliced)

2 oz. pounded Maldive fish

8 cloves

25 peppercorns

15 cardamoms (powdered)

A few sprigs of fennel

Salt

4 inch piece rampa

½ stem lemon-grass

A small sprig of curry-leaves

A sufficient quantity of ground saffron to colour the rice

A sufficient quantity of coconut milk to boil the rice (the extract of 2 coconuts)

Procedure

Heat the ghee in a chatty or saucepan, and when very hot fry one-third of the onions, together with a small piece each of the rampa and lemon-grass, and a few curry-leaves well washed, stir for about 3 minutes, and add the coconut milk with which must be mix in when the rice is half cooked.

Egg Rice

Ingredients

1 measure table-rice

6 or 8 eggs

2 oz. ghee or dripping

2 oz. red onions

20 peppercorns

6 cloves

2 inch piece cinnamon

Salt

Procedure

Wash and boil the rice, adding the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and salt. Keep the rice warm while you prepare the egg. Beat the egg, first whites separately, then add the yolks and beat together. Heat the ghee in a saucepan or chatty, put in the onions and let them boil-they must not brown-then turn in the beaten egg, stir briskly for a minute or two, put in the boiled rice and mix well together. Before adding the rice to the egg remove the piece of cinnamon.

Savoury Rice

Ingredients

2 breakfastcupfuls boiled rice

4 large eggs

2 dessertspoonfuls shredded red onions

1dessertspoonful chopped green chillies (seeds removed)

2 leeks (chopped)

4 scant tablespoonfuls melted ghee salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Fry the leeks in the ghee for about 5 minutes, then add the chillies and onions and fry all together, “scrambling” the eggs into rather coarse pieces, by mixing round and round with a wooden spoon. Now add the cooked rice, a big spoonful at a time, and mix well with each addition. Pile up on a hot dish and serve.

Buriani

Ingredients

1 measure buriani-rice

2 lb. lean mutton

¼ lb. ghee

¼ lb. red onions (sliced)

2 inch piece cinnamon

6 cardamoms (powdered)

6 cloves

2 inch piece rampa

½ stem lemon-grass

salt

a little diluted Spanish saffron

Procedure

Cut the mutton in about 2-inch squares and put them into a saucepan. Pour in a sufficient quantity of boiling water to cover the meat and let it simmer until the mutton is cooked but not too tender. Melt the ghee in a saucepan and when very hot put in the rampa and lemon-grass and one-third of the onions and stir until the onions are fried. Then turn in the rice well washed and stir for a few minutes. Add the mutton and the stock (add boiling water , if the stock is not sufficient for boiling the rice) and the rest of the ingredients, except the cardamoms and saffron, and boil until the rice is cooked. Mix in the cardamoms when the rice is half-cooked. When the rice is ready, take a small portion of it separately and mix with it the saffron which both colours and flavours. Then mix the coloured rice together with the other and dish it out neatly.