• 1 chicken or fowl
• 3 pt. stock or 3 pt. water and 2 lb. scrag-end neck of mutton
• 2 large Spanish onions
• 1 carrot
• 1 blade mace
• 6 black peppercorns
• 4 oz. butter
• 6 oz. Patna rice
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablesp. curry paste
• 2 small onions (shallots)

Joint the chicken (plate 7), put the backbone, giblets, bones and trimmings and stock (or water and the mutton cut into small pieces) into a saucepan; add outside layers of Spanish onions, carrot, mace and peppercorns. Simmer gently 2–3 hr., strain. Dice remainder of Spanish onions, fry in a saucepan until lightly browned in 2 oz. of the butter, add the washed and drained rice, 1½ pt. stock and seasoning. Cook gently until rice has absorbed stock. Fry chicken slowly in remaining butter until lightly brown, put into rice with curry paste and mix well, retaining the butter. Cook gently until chicken and rice-are tender, adding more stock if necessary. Cut small onions into rings, fry until golden brown in the butter in which the chicken was fried.

Pile the pilaff on a hot dish, pile rings of fried onion on top. Serve very hot.