A mistaken notion has prevailed for some time amongst men and women who write books, that the Indian curry mixture is almost red-hot to the taste. As a matter of fact it is of a far milder nature than many I have tasted "on this side." Also the Anglo-Indian does not sustain life entirely on food flavoured with turmeric and garlic. In fact, during a stay of seven years in the gorgeous East, the writer's experience was that not one in ten touched curry at the dinner table. At second breakfast--otherwise known as "tiffin"--it was a favoured dish; but the stuff prepared for the meal of the day--or the bulk thereof--usually went to gratify the voracious appetite of the "_mehters_," the Hindus who swept out the mess-rooms, and whose lowness of "caste" allowed them to eat "anything." An eccentric meal was the _mehter's_ dinner. Into the empty preserved-meat tin which he brought round to the back door I have seen emptied such assorted _pabulum_ as mock turtle soup, lobster salad, plum pudding and custard, curry, and (of course), the surplus _vilolif_; and in a few seconds he was squatting on his heels, and spading into the mixture with both hands. In the Bengal Presidency cocoa-nut is freely used with a curry dressing; and as some men have as great a horror of this addition, as of oil in a salad, it is as well to consult the tastes of your guests beforehand. A PRAWN CURRY I have seen made in Calcutta as follows, the proportions of spices, etc., being specially written down by a _munshi_:-- Pound and mix one tablespoonful of coriander seed, one tablespoonful of poppy seed, a salt-spoonful of turmeric, half a salt-spoonful of cumin seed, a pinch of ground cinnamon, a ditto of ground nutmeg, a small lump of ginger, and one salt-spoonful of salt. Mix this with butter, add two sliced onions, and fry till lightly browned. Add the prawns, shelled, and pour in the milk of a cocoa-nut. Simmer for twenty minutes, and add some lime juice. But the champion of curries ever sampled by the writer was a dry curry--a decided improvement on those usually served in the Madras Presidency--and the recipe (which has been already published in the _Sporting Times_ and _Lady's Pictorial_), only came into the writer's possession some years after he had quitted the land of temples. _Dry Curry._ 1 lb. of meat (mutton, fowl, or white fish). 1 lb. of onions. 1 clove of garlic. 2 ounces of butter. 1 dessert-spoonful of curry powder. 1 dessert-spoonful of curry paste. 1 dessert-spoonful of chutnee (or tamarind preserve, according to taste). A very little cassareep, which is a condiment (only obtainable at a few London shops) made from the juice of the bitter cassava, or manioc root. Cassareep is the basis of that favourite West Indian dish "Pepper-pot."