Bombay Palace’s Curried Treat

DEAR SOS: I had a recipe for Indian curried vegetables about a year ago. I prepared it once and must have thrown out the newspaper in error. It was a delicious recipe and I would appreciate receiving it again.

--MARGARET

DEAR MARGARET: The recipe came from the Bombay Palace restaurant in Los Angeles. It’s also in their cookbook, “The Bombay Palace Cookbook” by Stendahl (Caravan Publishers). The vegetables, by the way, may vary according to season.

BOMBAY PALACE 9 VEGETABLE CURRY

1/4 pound broccoli, cut into florets

1/4 pound green or sweet red pepper, cut into diamonds or small cubes

1/4 pound carrots, peeled, sliced and cut into diamonds or small cubes

1/4 pound cauliflower, cut into florets

1/4 pound green beans, sliced and cut into diamonds or small cubes

1 large potato, peeled, sliced and cut into diamonds or small cubes

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons yogurt

Dry Masala

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/4 pound fresh or 1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed

1 (4-ounce) can mixed fruit cocktail, drained

1/4 cup raisins

12 slivered, blanched almonds

Separately cook broccoli, green pepper, carrots, cauliflower, green beans and potato in boiling salted water until crisp-tender. Drain. Set aside.

Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic. Saute until onion is transparent. Add tomatoes, yogurt and Dry Masala. Simmer 5 minutes. Add parboiled vegetables and simmer 5 minutes longer, adding 1/4 cup water. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Add whipping cream and peas. Remove few cherry pieces from canned fruit for garnish. Add remaining fruit to sauce. Just before serving, top with raisins and almonds and decorate with cherry pieces. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Dry Masala

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Combine cardamom, coriander, ginger, chili powder and turmeric.

DEAR SOS: I would like to find a recipe for Wild Rice Casserole similar to the one I had years ago. It was a perfect buffet dish to serve with cold ham or fowl. Now, in these days of diminished interest in meat, it would make a good main course.

--RUTH

DEAR RUTH: Well, how about this one? It’s fairly close to the one you described.

WILD RICE CASSEROLE

4 strips bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup wild rice, rinsed

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 teaspoon seasoned salt, optional

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

Salt, pepper

Cook bacon until crisp. Drain and set aside. Drain all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat. Add onions and cook until tender. Add mushrooms and cook until warmed through.

Combine onions, mushrooms and bacon with rice, celery, seasoned salt and broth in 2-quart casserole. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and bake at 325 degrees 2 hours or until rice is done. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

DEAR SOS: Many years ago I had a recipe taken from The Times for a Mexican corn bread made from a mix, diced chiles, sausage, etc. The “etc.” is what I can’t remember. Can you help?

--STAN

DEAR STAN: You just about got it all. The missing “etc.” is corn. The recipe, incidently, was a My Best Recipe back in 1974.

J.E. BAKER’S TEXAS CORN BREAD ITALIAN-STYLE

1 pound hot Italian sausage

1 (15-ounce) package corn bread mix

1 (12-ounce) can Mexican-style corn, drained

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles

Fry sausage in skillet until thoroughly cooked. Remove from pan and reserve drippings. Prepare corn bread mix according to package directions. Add corn and chiles and mix thoroughly.

Cut sausage into small chunks and add to corn bread mixture. Heat reserved sausage drippings and pour into 9-inch square baking pan. Add corn bread mixture and bake at 375 degrees about 30 minutes or until wood pick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 9 to 12 servings.

Only recipes of general interest will be printed. We are unable to answer all requests. Please include restaurant address when requesting recipes from restaurants. Send your letter with self-addressed, stamped envelope to Culinary SOS, Food Section, The Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.