BURTAS OR MASHES

Burtas are mashes of potatoes and other vegetables, cold meats, dry fish, &c.; they are palatable, and much liked by most Europeans as accompaniments to curry and rice. The ingredients to almost every burta are the fine large white Patna onions, fresh green chilies, and the juice of fresh lemons.

95.—Potato Burta

Take a moderate or middling sized white Panta onion; remove the outer coats, and slice very fine; then slice or cut up two hot green chilies, and squeeze over the onion and chilies the juice of a fresh lime: allow to soak. Take eight or ten well-boiled potatoes, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of good mustard oil; bruise the potatoes down with a large silver or plated fork, adding, when they are half bruised, the onions and chilies, with as much only of the lime-juice as may be agreeable: mix all well together with a light hand, so that the potatoes may not cake, and yet be well and thoroughly mashed and mixed.

96.—Brinjal Burta

Prepare the sliced onions, chilies, and lime-juice in the manner directed for potato burta. Take two fine young brinjals of large size; carefully and thoroughly roast them in a quick ash fire; remove the ashes and burnt parts of the skin, if any; then open the brinjals, and with a clean spoon remove the contents to as near the skin as possible, to which add a good teaspoonful of salt and teaspoonful of mustard oil; work these with a spoon to a perfect pulp, throwing away the lumps or shreds if any; then mix with it all the onions, chilies, and lime-juice. If not to your taste, add more salt or lime-juice, according to fancy.

97.—Dry Fish Burta

Prepare onions, chilies, and lime-juice as before. Take a part of the Arabian dried beckty and well broil it; remove all the bones, and pound the fish to nearly a powder; mix it thoroughly with a teaspoonful of mustard oil, and add the onions, chilies, and lime-juice.

98.—Red Herring Burta

Take onions, chilies, and lime-juice. Place the herring, with its original paper packing, on a gridiron, or on a frying-pan, and warm it well; then clear it of all skin, very carefully pick out all the bones, bruise the herring, and mix it thoroughly with the sliced onions, chilies, and lime-juice.

N.B.—This is an inimitable burta.

99.—Cold Corned-Beef Burta

Steep sliced onions and chilies in lime-juice; have the red well-corned part of a cold round of beef nicely pounded; add to it the onions, chilies, and as much of the lime-juice as may be desirable.

100.—Cold Tongue Burta

The remains of a well-corned cold tongue make an excellent burta, as per recipe for cold beef burta.

101.—Cold Ham Burta

Is made in the same way as the beef and tongue burtas.

102.—Green Mango Burta

The condiments for this burta are a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground chilies, half a teaspoonful of ground fresh mint-leaves, half a teaspoonful of ground ginger, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of sugar.

Take two ordinary large-size green mangoes; peel, divide, and throw them into clean water, remove the stones, then bruise them to a perfect pulp with the aid of the curry-stone and muller. Care must be taken that the stone is perfectly clean, and will not impart the flavour of garlic or turmeric to the burta. Mix the sugar well with the pulp; if the mango be very acid, add a little more sugar; then mix it with the salt and ground condiments; more salt or sugar may be added if required.

103.—Tomato Burta

Bake in an oven a dozen good-sized tomatoes until the skin cracks; break them down, and mix with them a little ground chilies, ginger, salt, and half a teaspoonful of good mustard oil. A small squeeze of lemon-juice may be added if desired.