Mulligatawny Soup

Hello, welcome; it’s great to see you today! I am kicking off this week with Mulligatawny Soup. Soup feels appropriate this week, as we have some very chilly days forecasted. Mulligatawny Soup originates from South Indian Cuisine; it’s a curry soup that first became popular in India in the 18th century. By the 1800s, the soup was popular in England, appearing in cookbooks of the day. This is a hearty, rich and delicious soup with yams, carrots, and lentils. We also have tomato and apple, onion and fragrant, aromatic spices. I am a sucker for toppings, and I have added plenty of them for texture variety and flavor. Let’s get right to it!

Ingredients

This soup is really simple, yet it packs so much great flavor and good-for-you ingredients like yams and lentils. I have opted for using chicken broth and ghee, but you can easily make this vegetarian by using coconut oil instead of ghee and vegetable broth instead of chicken.

If you want to serve this Mulligatawny Soup with rice, get the rice going first.

Building the Mulligatawny Soup

Start with melting 3 tablespoons of ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Stir the seeds into the ghee and let them lightly toast, about 2 minutes. Then add the chopped onion and sauté until the onions are lightly translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, Serrano chile, and one tablespoon of yellow curry powder. Stir well to coat everything with the curry powder. Sauté for about 2 minutes, until everything is super fragrant.

Now add the chopped yam, carrots, lentils, chopped tomato, 4 cups of chicken broth and one can of unsweetened coconut milk. Stir in 2 teaspoons of kosher salt. Stir well, scraping up any fond from the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring the soup to a low boil. Then reduce the heat to low to keep a simmer, cover the pot and let the Mulligatawny Soup simmer for 35 minutes.

Toppings

While the soup is simmering, prepare the toppings and the last mix-ins. Halfway through the simmer, we will add chopped apple. After the soup has simmered, we will stir in 1/4 cup each of chopped fresh cilantro and parsley leaves. We will also stir in the juice of 1 lemon.

For the toppings, I have one chopped tomato; yogurt; finely diced apple; toasted cashews and seeds. For the toasted cashews and seeds, melt 2 teaspoons of ghee in a small pan over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons each: coriander seeds, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Add 1/4 cup of roughly chopped raw cashews. Let the seeds and nuts fry for about 2 minutes, just until they are fragrant and the cashews take on a toasted color. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the apple: peel one Granny Smith apple and cut in half. Slice around the core, creating quarters. For two of the quarters, chop into 1/2-inch cubes and set aside. For the other two quarters, slice thinly into planks. Stack the planks and thinly slice the planks into thin matchsticks. Then, cut the stack of matchsticks into a tiny cubes.

Transfer the tiny apple dice into a small bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Toss the apple dice in the lemon juice and cover with plastic wrap.

When the soup has been simmering for about 20 minutes, add the 1/2-inch apple cubes to the soup and stir. Re-cover the pot and let soup finish simmering for another 15 minutes.

After its total 35 minute simmer, cut the heat and stir in the chopped fresh herbs and the juice of one lemon. Taste for seasoning and add more kosher salt if desired.

Mulligatawny Soup

Alright! It’s time to plate the Mulligatawny Soup. As I mentioned at the top, I love toppings because they not only enhance the flavors, they add texture. It’s especially great to add different textures to a soup that is generally going to have pretty soft textures.

In a bowl, add a serving of rice. Then ladle on the Mulligatawny Soup. Top with a swipe of yogurt and a sprinkling of the fresh chopped herbs.

Add several pieces of chopped tomato. Then spoon on the toasted nuts and seeds. Finally, top with the tiny apple dice.

If you’re looking closely, you might green beans in my soup that I didn’t mention until now. And that’s because they’re not part of the recipe, but I needed to use up some fresh soy beans. And that’s a great thing about this soup: add other things you need or want to use, like: canned beans, frozen peas, leftover chicken…

The Mulligatawny Soup is rich and savory, with sweet bites of carrot and yam; tart bites of apple; the toppings add a fresh and juicy bite of tomato; the crunch of toasted seeds and nuts; and the apple dice add a tiny pop of brightness to every bite. Such a wonderful and satisfying soup! I hope you give this Mulligatawny Soup a try! If you want to try a different Indian curry dish, try Easy Pork Curry. Take care and be well! xo Kelly

Key Equipment

Print Recipe

Mulligatawny Soup

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Dinner, Main Course – Indian

By Adapted from Feasting at Home – Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 10 Minutes – Cooking Time: 40 Minutes – Total Time: ~50 Minutes

Mulligatawny Soup is a rich coconut curry soup from South India. With yams, carrots, apples, lentils, fragrant seeds and spices.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. Ghee Butter or Coconut Oil
• 1/2 tsp. Whole Cumin Seeds
• 1/2 tsp. Whole Coriander Seeds
• 1/2 tsp. Whole Mustard Seeds
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 3 Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. Grated Ginger
• 1 Serrano chile, slit in half lengthwise, leaving the stem intact
• 1 tbsp. Yellow Curry Powder
• 1 Large Carrot, chopped
• 1 Yam, cubed
• 4 cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth
• 3/4 cup Red Lentils, picked through and rinsed
• 2 tsp. Kosher Salt, plus more to taste
• 1 Tomato, chopped
• 14.5 oz. Can of Unsweetened Coconut Milk
• 1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled, half of it chopped into 1/2-inch cubes, the other half diced very fine into tiny dice
• 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, chopped, plus extra for garnish
• 1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro- leaves and stems, chopped, plus extra for garnish
• Juice from 1 Lemon
• Optional Toppings
• Plain Yogurt
• 1 Tomato, cubed or diced
• Granny Smith Apple, tiny dice
• Toasted Seeds and Nuts Topping
• 2 tsp. Ghee or Coconut Oil
• 2 tsp. Whole Cumin Seeds
• 2 tsp. Whole Coriander Seeds
• 2 tsp. Whole Mustard Seeds
• 1/4 cup Roughly Chopped Raw Cashews

Instructions

1

If you want to serve this Mulligatawny Soup with rice, get the rice going first.

Mulligatawny Soup

2

Start with melting 3 tablespoons of ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Stir the seeds into the ghee and let them lightly toast, about 2 minutes. Then add the chopped onion and sauté until the onions are lightly translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, Serrano chile, and one tablespoon of yellow curry powder. Stir well to coat everything with the curry powder. Sauté for about 2 minutes, until everything is super fragrant.

3

Now add the chopped yam, carrots, lentils, chopped tomato, 4 cups of chicken broth and one can of unsweetened coconut milk. Stir in 2 teaspoons of kosher salt. Stir well, scraping up any fond from the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring the soup to a low boil. Then reduce the heat to low to keep a simmer, cover the pot and let the Mulligatawny Soup simmer.

4

When the soup has been simmering for about 20 minutes, add the 1/2-inch apple cubes to the soup and stir. Re-cover the pot and let soup finish simmering for another 15 minutes.

5

After its total 35 minute simmer, cut the heat and stir in the chopped fresh herbs and the juice of one lemon. Taste for seasoning and add more kosher salt if desired.

Toasted Seeds and Nuts Topping

6

Melt 2 teaspoons of ghee in a small pan over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons each: coriander seeds, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Add 1/4 cup of roughly chopped raw cashews. Let the seeds and nuts fry for about 2 minutes, just until they are fragrant and the cashews take on a toasted color. Remove from heat and set aside.

Serving the Mulligatawny Soup

7

In a bowl, add a serving of rice. Then ladle on the Mulligatawny Soup. Top with a swipe of yogurt and a sprinkling of the fresh chopped herbs.

8

Add several pieces of chopped tomato. Then spoon on the toasted nuts and seeds. Finally, top with the tiny apple dice.

Notes

If you don't want to do the tiny apple dice, just chop the whole, peeled, cored Granny Smith Apple into 1/2-inch cubes and add to the soup after 20 minutes of simmering and continue with the rest of the recipe.

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