CHICKEN CURRY DINNER (continued)

The chicken curry posted yesterday is best served over patna or basmati rice. You can find ersatz basmati rice in your grocery store and if you use that, just follow the directions on the package. This is much simpler (and what I would do). But if you use the real stuff, usually found in a health-food store, here's a recipe for cooking it.

BASMATI RICE

for the chicken curry dinner

Jack would have used a "real" basmati rice due to the better shape of the grain. Wash it thoroughly in several changes of water until all loose starch is gone and the water is no longer cloudy.

1. To one cup of uncooked rice, allow 3 quarts briskly boiling water to which has been added the juice of 1/2 lemon and 3 t salt. (Lemon juice keeps the rice white in hard water.)

2. Put the rice into the boiling water a little at a time. Never stir with a spoon. Use a wooden fork (like a salad fork) and lift the grains if they tend to stick. After 10-12 minutes, test a grain between thumb and finger to see if it is soft all the way through. Cooking takes from about 12 to 20 minutes.

3. When this point is reached, stop the boiling of the water by adding 1 pint of cold water to the pot.

4. Pour the rice into a colander or fine sieve and when drained, turn into a shallow pan very lightly greased with butter. Place the pan in a warm, not hot, oven. In this way, the grains of rice will dry nicely, swell and remain separated.

SUGGESTED CONDIMENTS

for the chicken curry dinner

The quantity and variety of condimants for the chicken curry are only limited by your imagination but I'm giving here what is reasonably available in the usual grocery store and what I would probably serve. Place each of these in its own bowl - giving you, like Jack Larsen, a chance to choose whatever effect pleases you; they don't have to match - around the table with the rice and curry, allowing your guests to choose those condiments that appeal to them. Use all of these or select whatever suits your fancy, budget and timetable.

1. Mango chutney, 2 kinds (if you can find them): hot and hotter. Be sure to tell your guests which is which.

2. Diced eggplant, fried in oil and highly seasoned to taste

3. Chopped hard-boiled eggs

4. Plain, freshly grated, ripe coconut (the recipe from the 1920"s says, "not the shredded, tasteless species Aunt Clutie-Belle uses on her birthday cakes!"). But, in a pinch, that's what I use.

5. Finely chopped orange peel, without the white pith (which is bitter)

6. Finely chopped grapefruit peel, likewise

7. Finely chopped sweet onion, like Vidalia

8. Finely chopped green or red bell pepper

9. Shredded, sun-ripe pineapple

10. Chopped, blanched nuts: cashews, almonds or peanuts, roasted until they're almost black and really dry

11. Small raisins or currants plumped by immersion in boiling water or a combination of water and rum or bourbon

12. Fried bananas, cut in crosswise diagonal slices, and dusted with brown sugar, powdered cloves and cinnamon.

Wow! That should be enough. I told you this dinner was a production. Tomorrow (or as soon as I can find the recipes), other parts of the meal. Stay tuned.