Banquets of the nations

Lightly fry two medium-sized onions sliced very thin in half a pound of boiling butter. Remove the onions and fry in the butter a plump chicken ; when brown all over place it in a pan, add the onions, a handful of pounded almonds, four oranges which have been preserved in sugar syrup, and cut in quarters, a teaspoonful each of ground cardamoms, cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of nutmeg, two bay leaves, two sliced chillies, a teaspoonful of salt, and quarter that quantity of white pepper. Pour into the pan another half-pound of melted butter and a cupful of milk curds. Cover very closely and stew for at least four hours. Remove the bay leaves and eat with brown bread. Preserved Oranges. Wash and dry half a dozen oranges. Cut a very thin piece out of the rind, about the thickness of a thin cord, as if you were quartering them. Boil them in plenty of water till they are quite tender, then cut them into the quarters already marked off ; cut out the pips and the hard bits of pith ; boil in plenty of strong sugar syrup for half an hour ; let them steep in the syrup for four days, then boil for fifteen minutes, and do this four times ; strain into another pot and add more syrup and boil to a crackling point and pour over the oranges. When cold, tie down very carefully. AFGHANISTAN Halwa Nashashta. (Arrowroot Pudding.) Half a pound of arrowroot, half a pound of butter, half a pound of sugar, and one pint of water. Soak the arrowroot in half of the water, when nearly soft drain it, and put it in a pot in which you have brought the butter to boiling point ; stir continually till all the butter is absorbed with the arrowroot. Having made a clear syrup of the sugar and the rest of the water, add it to the mixture and cook steadily, stirring all the time very carefully, but not shaking the pot. When all has collected into a mass, lift it with a spoon several times till it is quite free and smooth. It ought to be a soft, solid mass. Eat with all kinds of fruits preserved in sweet syrups. Sharbai. (Sherbet.) Boil the juice of six oranges and one lemon, also the very thin rind of three of the oranges and one of the lemons with an equal weight of sugar for ten minutes. Strain and set to cool on ice ; dilute with a little rose water and fill up with iced water to taste. II.— AFRICA (SOUTH) Menu Biltong (Dried Beef) Kerrie Soep (Curry Soup) Gesmoorde Makreel and Komkommer (Stewed Mackerel and Pickled Cucumber) Swartzuir (Braised Venison and Stewed Parsnips) Bobotee Blatjang (Curried Mince and Savoury Condiment) Gesmoorde Hoender Rys Kluitjes (Stewed Chicken) (Rice Dumplings) Kwartel Kerrie en Patatas (Curried Quails and Sweet Potatoes) Klapper Taart Spritze (Cocoanut Tart) (Sweet Dumplings) Quava Salade Rys Room Koekjes (Guava Salad) (Apricot Rice Cream) (Macaroons) Vruchten (Fruit) Koffee (Coffee) Biltong. (Dried Beef.)