Banquets of the nations

Take off outside skin from seeds. Put ghi (clarified butter) in pan, and cook seeds in this. Cook sugar with water until it threads from spoon. Add seeds to syrup, and beat till thick and creamy. Pour into a flat dish, and then cut in squares. Boat-ka-Hulva. (Almond Sweets.) Take of ground almonds half a pound, sugar half a pound, cream (milk reduced to quarter its bulk by boiling) six ounces, saffron five grains, ghi four ounces, whole cardamoms half a dozen, and whole cloves one dozen. Fry the cardamoms and cloves thoroughly in boiling ghi. Mix the ground almonds with the cream in a basin. Boil the sugar in a little water till it is very thick in consistency. Mix this with the almond paste, then add it to the ghi which you have brought to the boil ; continue boiling for a quarter of an hour, stirring all the time. Remove from the fire and add the ground saffron ; beat up very well till thick and creamy, then pour into a dish before it cools. WEST INDIES Menu Turtle Soup Fillet of Soles Ragout of Pullet Pinions Pumpkin with Tomatoes Prawn Pillau Okras Sautes Fillet of Widgeon Plantain Fritters Orange Fritters Dessert WEST INDIES Turtle Soup. Put four pounds of turtle meat into a saucepan with one tablespoonful of allspice, a teaspoonful each of ground turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, a quarter teaspoonful of ginger, same quantity of garlic, and half a chilli, two tablespoonfuls of butter, a dessertspoonful of white pepper, salt to taste, and half a gallon of water, and boil until the turtle is nearly done ; add two large onions sliced, a bunch of marjoram, parsley, thyme, tarragon, all tied together. Cook until the meat is quite tender, remove the herbs and green fat, thicken the stock with flour and a little cocoanut milk, and then add a dozen pieces of the green fat cut into inch squares, a breakfastcupful of egg balls, some turtle eggs, and a dozen small forcemeat balls. Let the soup come to the boil, remove the pot to the side of the fire, and finish with two wineglassfuls of rich wine (port), and a lemon (without pips) thinly sliced. Fillet of Soles. Blanch eighteen large oysters ; drain them, preserving their liquor ; trim, and put them to the one side. Cut into thin half-inch squares celery and parsley-roots, tender carrots, and raw mushrooms ; blanch these vegetables (excepting the mushrooms) in salted water, and drain them on a sieve. Skin and fillet two middling-sized soles. Butter a flat stewpan ; sprinkle over the bottom the vegetables, on which place the fillets. Salt them slightly, and moisten with half a bottle of white wine and the oysters' liquor ; then boil the soles on a sharp fire ; drain, and place them on a dish with the oysters ; thicken their stock with a piece of kneaded butter, and remove the stewpan off the fire. Finish the sauce with the juice of a lemon, a piece of butter, and a little chopped parsley, after which pour the sauce and the vegetables over the soles, and serve. This sauce is very similar to sauce riche. Plaice, flounders, whitings, and haddocks may be cooked the same way. Ragout of Pullet Pinions.