HOW TO COOK AND EAT OYSTERS. 289 



saucepan, and when it boils add a large onion, cut it into 

 thin slices, and let it fry in the uncovered stew-pan until 

 it is of a rich brown ; now add a bit more butter and two 

 or three tablespoonfuls of curry-powder. 'When these 

 ingredients are well mixed over the fire with a wooden 

 spoon, add gradually either hot water or broth from the 

 stockpot, cover the stew-pan, and let the whole boil up. 

 " Meanwhile, have ready the meat of a cocoa-nut, grated 

 or rasped fine, put this into the stew-pan with a few sour 

 tamarinds (if they are to be obtained, if not, a sour apple 

 chopped). Let the whole simmer over the fire until the 

 apple is dissolved, and the cocoa-nut very tender ; then 

 add a strong thickening, made of flour and water, and suf- 

 ficient salt, as a curry will not bear being salted at table. 

 Let this boil up for five minutes. Have ready also a vege- 

 table marrow, or part of one, cut into bits, and sufficiently 

 boiled to require little or no further cooking. Put this in 

 with a tomato or two ; either of these vegetables may be 

 omitted. Now put into the stew-pan the oysters, with 

 their own liquor, and the milk of the cocoa-nut, if it be 

 perfectly sweet ; stir them well with the former ingredients ; 

 boil the curry, stew gently for a few minutes, then throw 

 in the strained juice of half a lemon. Stir the curry from 

 time to time with a wooden spoon, and, as soon as the 

 oysters are done enough, serve it up, with a corresponding 

 dish of rice on the opposite side of the table. This dish 

 is considered at Madras the ne plus ultra of Indian 

 cookery." (s] 



" To stew Oysters. Take the oysters clean from their 

 liquor. Let the liquor stand till it is clear ; then put a 

 little of it to the oysters, and stew them ; then put to them 



(s) Miss Acton's " Modern Cookery Book," taken from "Magazine 



of Domestic Economy." 



K 



