Pilaff, which is the national dish of Orientals, gives rise to an endless number of recipes. The various curries of veal, lamb, and fowl are “pilaffs,” and all except the one “à la Parisienne,” which I give below, follow the same method of preparation—namely, that of curry; but for a change in the condiments and the treatment of the rice, which is not the same as that of “Riz à l’Indienne.”
[1679—PILAW DE VOLAILLE A LA GRECQUE]
Cut the fowl into small pieces, and fry it in mutton fat with three oz. of chopped onions. Sprinkle with one oz. of flour; moisten with one pint of white consommé; add two-thirds of a capsicum, cut into dice, and one and one-half oz. of currants and sultanas, and cook gently.
Dish in a timbale, and serve some pilaw rice separately.
[1680—PILAW DE VOLAILLE A L’ORIENTALE]
Prepare the fowl as above, only flavour it with a little powdered ginger, and add three green braised and quartered capsicums to the sauce.
Serve a timbale of pilaff rice at the same time.
[1681—PILAW DE VOLAILLE A LA PARISIENNE]
Cut up the fowl as for a fricassée; season it; fry it in butter, and add thereto three and one-half oz. of rice, browned in butter, with one chopped onion, a leaf of bay, and two peeled and [concassed] tomatoes. Moisten with enough white broth to more than cover, and cook in a very hot oven for twenty-five minutes. At the end of this time the fowl and rice are cooked, and the rice should be quite dry.
Sprinkle then with one-sixth pint of veal stock; mix the latter with the pilaff by means of a fork, and dish with care in a timbale.