2 onions, sliced

2 tablespoons (1 oz.) butter substitute 1 chicken 1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) rice

2 cups (1 pt.) stock

1/2 teaspoon whole white peppers

1 blade mace

2 cloves 1 teaspoon salt

2 hard-cooked eggs

Fry onions in butter substitute, and when sufficiently browned take out and place aside for future use. Cut up chicken into ten pieces and fry it in butter in which onions were cooked, and when colored take out and place by the onions. Now fry well-washed rice in butter, stirring frequently to prevent burning, and when fat is absorbed make a well in center and put in onions and chicken. Add stock, peppers, mace, cloves, and a few cardamons if obtainable, all tied in a piece of muslin or cheesecloth, and simmer one hour, add salt, and, if rice becomes too dry, add a small quantity of boiling stock. When cooked take out spice bag. Place on dish and garnish with eggs cut in quarters.

Pilau means an oriental combination of rice cooked with spices and butter; almonds and raisins, usually fried, often being added. Most pilau dishes involve meat boiled in stock, but fish pilau and sweet pilau, the latter containing no flesh food, are used in some parts of India by Europeans who employ native cooks. Pilau dishes require skill and care in preparation, or they will be unpalatable.