Sunday, January 31, 2010

mulligatawny

Function: noun
Etymology: Tamil milakutanni, from milaku pepper

+ tanni water, Date: 1784
a rich soup usually of chicken stock seasoned with curry


I twittered this week about mulligatawny, one of my very favorite soups. There are lots of variations, but the one below is my particular version. I like to make my own chicken broth with a little stewing chicken. It's a bit more time consuming, but the rich, flavorful broth is well worth the extra effort. Keep in mind that it tastes best while wearing woolly socks.


Willow's Chicken Mulligatawny

(all amounts are approximate)

4 quarts homemade chicken broth
1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
4 each, carrots and celery, chopped (eggplant is good, too)
1 large onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped parsley (or 2 Tbsp dry)
2 cups cooked brown rice (or 1 cup raw)
6 to 8 tsp curry powder (I like it spicy, start with less, add as you go)
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp pepper (I threw in some whole peppercorns)
salt to taste
a bay leaf or two
4 to 6 cups cooked chicken, diced
2 apples, peeled and chopped

Combine all ingredients except chicken and apples. Simmer until vegetables are tender, but still firm. Add apples, continue to simmer until apples are tender. Add chicken, cooked rice and heat through. Adjust seasonings. Remove bay leaves.

Note: This makes a ton of soup. The recipe can easily be halved.

Just tell me if this isn't just as good, if not better than the Soup Nazi's.

47 comments:

  1. oh willow.....i am making this next week..rain is expected..and this looks perfect...

    thanks my friend

    kary
    xxx

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  2. Sounds great if you saw my post today, all snow, you know soup and woolly socka are the name of the game. Thanks for that recipe. Sounds great. I think I can even smell it.
    QMM

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  3. I'm guessing about Soup Nazi's patent. It was one of the best Seinfeld episodes.

    I like your comment: all amounts are approximate.

    I throw in this and that, never making anything the exact same way.

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  4. Lakeviewer, that's the way I cook, too. I use the palm of my hand for a measure!

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  5. Sounds great! It's been a while since I made mulligatawny -- will have to try your recipe. I do love curried stuff.

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  6. Oh, that warms my bones. I have been out in a snowstorm shooting for the newspaper today.

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  7. That looks yummy and thank you so much for the recipe. I will have to give it a try. And going easy on the curry is a lesson once learned that you never forget.

    I am also wondering, if whole peppercorns are used, do we have to take them out just like the whole bayleaves?

    God bless.

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  8. Sounds wonderful, I've just finished making the stock. My feet are so cold that it will be wooly socks tomorrow.

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  9. This looks so delicious! Definetely comfort food : )

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  10. This looks and sounds wonderful. Thanks for sharing. It is now on myt list to make tomorrow. I would bet it is one of those soups that taste better day by day!
    Linda

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  11. The title alone sparks curiosity. And the ingredients encourage a place in our regular rotation of family meals. Mmm.

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  12. It sounds delicious! I made sweet and sour chicken tonight over brown rice, so we'll have leftovers for lunch or something tomorrow, but I think I have ingredients for this! Thanks for another good recipe. GREAT weather for it! It's freezing here, too. Stay warm in that Zhivago hat!

    I always use the palm of my hand for measuring, too. I taste and season as I go. Works for me!

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  13. Willow I want some!

    Man. That looks good.

    I was making soup a few years back. Maybe I'll clip and save this recipe!

    Or the click-and-bookmark internet equivalent.

    Mulligatawny. Man, for my money, while I love a good minestrone, a good mulligatawny will a little more than edge it out.

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  14. I doubt I'll get this anytime soon as I am a bit souped out but must say I so love muligatawny so will have to remember it's here.

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  15. I am more familiar with the Anglo Indian version of Mulligatawny soup -- more creamy, definitely a dash of curry and turmeric in particular -- more like a cream soup though. Those old Brits sure knew how to ruin a perfectly good veggie and chicken peppery soup, didn't they?! Yours sounds delish!

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  16. Soup Nazi..the best episode of Seinfeld.I'd be a good Soup Nazi!
    That show inspired me to open a soup kitchen run along the same lines..but my other half is too
    laid back so we didn't go ahead.

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  17. That looks really delicious! It's a bit warm here for soup... or socks, but I will tuck it away and try it in the winter! cheers
    :)

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  18. Sounds delish, just a bit much for one...even the half of it.

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  19. Outside, feathery snowflakes are dancing from the sky, inside I warm myself vicariously with your soup.
    Perfect Sunday .... thanks! :-)

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  20. I always will make me own broth, where soups are involved. And is there a particular type of apple you use? I'm thinkin' of the tartness of a Granny Smith would work well here :P

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  21. This looks yummy! Anything that adds the unexpected pleasure of apples sounds wonderful to me.

    I saw on your sidebar that it's 15 degrees there; it's 5 here.

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  22. Mrs. U, I strained the broth after removing the cooked chicken, so that caught the peppercorns.

    Subby, yep, I used Granny Smiths.

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  23. Well, it sure SOUNDS better than the Soup Nazi's!

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  24. mmm this looks yummy. Never had eggplant, though. Is it egg or plant?!

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  25. hey willow! happily it's grocery day here so i'll be picking up what i don't already have and this will be dinner tonight!!! if it's good then i've no doubt that after that it'll be - no soup for them - one week!! steven

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  26. Heh, heh...good guess, yes?( copies recipe... )

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  27. Looks delicious in the photo, but I hate curry, so may try it with the curry powder left out.

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  28. I haven't made Mulligatawny soup in a long time and you remind me of how much I loved it....I love curry and spice and this recipe sounds nice:)

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  29. I am loving the sound of this soup. Yes, it does so have a sound.

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  30. I don't know if it is that French curry powder is so much weaker or that my taste buds demand ever more spice - but when I use the French stuff I seem to have to double all quantities these days.

    This is a soup that I love though but I've never made it with chicken - just veg. This sounds a good variation though.

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  31. SCRUMPTIOUS LOOKING!!!!!

    Never heard the name Mulligatawny
    where did it come from? It is very cold yesterday and today.. just
    used up the rest of chicken for salad. Next time I will try this.

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  32. Sounds awesome. I will have to try it.

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  33. it looks delish. i can almost smell it thru my mac screen lol!!

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  34. I discovered this tasty soup way back in the early 70's while working in a very nice restaurant attached to a very nice hotel. I've been a fan of this wonderful concoction ever since. Curry is my favorite spice ......

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  35. Going to try your recipe. I never get tired of soup. My slow cooker is put to work on most weekends and I usually put small containers of leftover in the freezer for future dinners or lunches.

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  36. Willow - thanks for the recipe, it looks scrumptious!

    P.S. If there is a prize somewhere for the blogger who puts the words "woolly socks" in every post, you are going to get it, for sure. 8-) I think the super-thick cotton socks are getting a raw deal, personally.

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  37. Marcheline, in my particular idiom of magpiety, woolly socks is an essential element.

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  38. This looks great the curry amounts as you said can change the flavor greatly depending on how spicey you like things.

    Thanks for sharing this.

    Tom Bailey

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  39. yum. i could use some of that today in all this snow...

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  40. Yum! I make something very similar to this...really good in this kind of weather! Stay warm!

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  41. Oh jeezz your killin me here! I have about enough time to throw some eggs over easy on a skillet before I run out now, but I would much rather have that bowl of Willows Mulligatawny in front of me . . .and a great photo of it to boot. . .OY

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  42. You know, in that book "True Evil" that I was reading there is a section in there about showing photos of some of your best and favorite recipes to those with little time to eat. . .hence the look of incredulity I had.

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  43. Looks great--reading this on a snowy Idaho afternoon!

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  44. Gary, that explains a lot. I wondered what exactly that incredible look on your face was all about!

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  45. thanks for stopping by Farmhouse today, Willow...

    and thanks for the kind comments

    i always love seeing you, my friend

    kary
    xxx

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  46. Yours with the chicken is a much better version than the one in our family cookbook that uses mutton neck cutlets - yuk! Like Jane Moxey, I only know the Indian sub-continent version, which I reckon would taste like old woolly socks.
    Millie ^_^

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― O. Henry (and me)