Mulligatawny

Day 27: When the English Ruled the World

When I sought out recommendations mid month a few people suggested I make Mulligatawny which lead to the inevitable question: "What's mulligatawny?" I had never had it, nor could I even imagine what flavors it might involve. Thank you information-super-highway. Through it I learned that Mulligatawny, an Indian spiced soup (usually involving chicken), is actually of Anglo-Indian Origin. During the British Raj, it was created by Indian servants to serve during the soup course, as soup was not a traditional Indian dish. Like many soups I have cooked over the past month, it has no distinct recipe, but is generally a curry flavored soup. This recipe was adapted from a vegetarian recipe I found online here. I stayed pretty close to the recipe as I really had no basis for comparison. I was not that impressed, while it was good, it was not special. I would definitely recommend adding chicken, or if you prefer a vegetarian meal, perhaps some Indian paneer would make the dish more exciting:

Mulligatawny

3 tbsp canola oil

1/2 large yellow onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, with seeds, minced

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp turmeric

1/2 large yellow onion, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

1 large carrot, diced

3 small white skinned potatoes, cubed

1 red pepper, diced

6 cups vegetable broth

2/3 cup yellow peas

1 cup nonfat plain yogurt

salt to taste

lemon juice to taste

Combine first 8 ingredients in the bottom of your soup pot and mix thoroughly into a paste. Cook over medium low heat until very fragrant, perhaps 6-7 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until peas are cooked through. Puree soup with an immersion blender or food processor. Add yogurt and salt and add lemon juice to taste. Serve with naan for a filling and rich meal.

Jay's review:

4 yums (out of 5!). Tastes like an Indian restaurant smells.

Curried Carrot Soup

Day 19: Holy Carotene, Batman!

Tonight, Jay and I watched Julie & Julia and have both decided that while Julia is pretty damn cool, Julie left us unimpressed. No need to trash talk her (there has apparently been well enough of that over the blogosphere in general) but what did impress us was that she cooked 524 French recipes in 365 days and somehow managed to retain a full time job and not get fat. I mean, seriously. If I cooked and ate like that I would probably weigh 365 lbs at the end of the 365 days. So no Pâté de Canard en Croûte for us, instead we have soup. Yes, more soup. Today its more carrot soup, this time an Indian spiced carrot soup. To come up with this recipe I combined about three - two of which were sent by friend Erica (keep em coming guys):

Curried Carrot Soup

1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp ginger, minced

2 tbsp curry power

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp coriander

a pinch to 1 tsp red pepper flakes (depends on the spice in your curry)

1/2 granny smith apple, diced

3 cups carrots, peeled and sliced

4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup milk or nonfat plain yogurt

1 tbsp lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot heat ghee over medium heat and add onions and cook for 5-6 minutes. Add spices, ginger, garlic and apple and cook for 4-5 minutes longer until everything is evenly browned and the spices are aromatic. Add carrots and broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are very soft. Take off heat and blend soup with an immersion blender or food processor. Add milk, lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. I served with naan - recommended.

Jay's review:

4 yums (out of 5)!. He doesn't want to add anything else (it is day 19)

Curry Noodle Soup

Day 12: #27

So eleven days in I really wanted to cover my proverbial bases. Brainstorming, Jay and I figured we would try a Thai style soup - something a la my absolute favorite # 27 from Mae Phim. #27 is, I think, some version of heaven. It is also very rich. So when I made it I tried to make it a little less so, and add some veggies for some degree of nutritional value. We went to the new QFC in our hood, which didn't have a great selection of Asian style noodles, so we ended up with a Japanese style somen noodle. I think I would have preferred it with a wider udon. Other than that it turned out well, just the right amount of spice and flavor but not nearly as rich as the original #27:

Curry Noodle Soup

1 medium onion, 1/4 minced, the rest diced

2 tbsp ginger, minced

3 lemongrass stalks, the bottom 4 inches minced

3-6 tbsp good quality yellow curry paste (amount will vary depending on quality and type - look at the instructions on your curry paste for typical coconut milk/paste ratio)

2 cups vegetable broth

4 cups light coconut milk

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 block nigari tofu (any extra firm tofu will work, chicken might be nice as well), cubed

1 tbsp canola oil

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 carrots cut on the bias into 1/2 inch pieces

2 small jalapeno or thai peppers, seeded and minced

10 oz. udon, soba, or rice noodles, cooked

2 green onions, thinly sliced

good quality chili paste to taste (optional)

In a soup pot heat 1/4 cup vegetable broth over medium high heat. Add minced ginger, lemongrass and onion for 3-4 minutes until just cooked. Add curry paste and mix thoroughly. Add 2 cups of coconut milk and, whisking thoroughly, heat to a boil. Add remaining coconut milk, remaining broth and fish sauce. Heat to a simmer and add cubed tofu. Simmer while you prepare the rest.

In a wok, heat canola oil over high heat. Saute each of the veggies (remaining onion, carrot, bell pepper and jalapeno) one at a time until just barely soft. As the veggies are cooked add them to the curry broth pot.

To serve place a 1/2 cup noodles at the bottom of a bowl. Ladle curry broth and veggies over until covered. Garnish with green onion and chili paste (if desired).

Jay's review:

4.0 yums (out of 5). A thicker noodle would have made this even better. Nice.