Mulligatawny

This is a wonderful, spicy Mulligatawny Soup recipe. The name of the soup, which came to England via  Southern India (in the 1800s), is a corruption of the Tamil words milagu (pepper) and tannir (water) – which is a fitting description of the soup’s several variations, a peppery broth. Some prefer their Mulligatawny as a thick purée, and others like large pieces of meat and vegetables in a thinner broth. Make it as below, and decide for yourself whether to blend the soup or not – each serving is topped with fluffy, boiled rice.

Mulligatawny Recipe

Serves 4 people.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 25g butter
• 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped)
• 1 carrot (peeled and finely diced)
• 50g turnip (peeled and finely diced)
• 1 eating apple (peeled, cored and finely diced)
• 50g runner beans, (topped, tailed, strung and finely diced diagonally)
• 2 teaspoons hot curry powder (made into a paste with 2 tbsp water)
• 1 teaspoon tomato chutney
• 1.1 chicken stock
• 50g cooked ham (diced small)
• 50g cooked chicken (diced small)
• Bouqet garni (herb bag)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• pinch ground sea-salt and black pepper (to taste)

to serve

• 40g long grain rice (freshly boiled and drained)
• 200ml single cream

Recipe Method:

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Add the chopped onion, carrot and turnip and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking, until the onion is transparent (not browned). Add the chopped apple and runner beans, curry paste, and tomato chutney, mix well and cook over a low heat for a further 5 minutes.

Gradually stir in the chicken stock, (stirring continuously) until the soup comes up to the boil. Add the bouquet garni and the ground spices – mace, nutmeg and cloves. Season to taste with the ground sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper and simmer gently for 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender. Skim off any rising impurities.

Meanwhile boil the rice until tender, drain, fluff up, and reserve, keeping it warm in a low oven and to dry it out a little.

Remove and discard the bouquet garni from the soup. For a smooth soup, put the Mulligatawny through a blender in batches (or use a stick blender) when the vegetables are tender – and then re-heat in a clean saucepan. Add in the cooked meat, diced ham and chicken, and warm through.

Transfer the Mulligatawny to a serving bowl, bring to the table, and stir in the cream. Place the bowl of boiled rice next to the soup. Add 2 teaspoons of the boiled rice in each serving.