“THEY are indeed Nature's gentlemen, these worthy Shokas, and as such they did all in their power to make my stay among them pleasant. It was a contest between them as to who should entertain me first, and who should be the next. Invitations to breakfast and dinner literally poured in; and those convenient "sick headaches," "colds," and "previous engagements," so opportune in more conventional parts, were of no avail here. No card--no friendly note bade one to come and be merry. They generally arrived _en masse_ to fetch me. Pulling and pushing played a not unimportant part in their urging, and to decline was thus out of the question. Indeed I must confess there was but little inclination to decline on my part. When you arrived, your host spread out fine mats and rugs, of Tibetan and ancient Chinese manufacture, and often of great value. In front of a raised seat were displayed in shiny brass bowls the various viands and delicacies which constituted the meal. There was rice always; there was curried mutton, milk and curd with sugar; then _chapatis_ made in Hindustani fashion and _Shale_, a kind of sweet pancake made of flour, _ghi_ (butter), sugar or honey, also _Parsad_, a thick paste of honey, burnt sugar, butter and flour, all well cooked together--a dainty morsel even for a jaded palate.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Boil half a pound of rice to a jelly in a small quantity of water: when cold, mix it with a pint of cream, eight eggs, a bit of salt, and nutmeg. Stir in eight ounces of butter just warmed, and add as much flour as will make the batter thick enough. Fry in as little lard or dripping as possible.
Sources: The passage is from Arnold Henry Savage Landor, In the forbidden land : $b an account of a journey into Tibet, capture, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Rundell, New system of domestic cookery, formed upon principles of of 1806, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — forest cloth, beehive stamp.