Mulligatawny

A couple of weeks ago, Taido and I went to Boulevard Bread Company for lunch and we had the best Mulligatawny I’ve ever tasted.

We were leaving for camp that day so I filed it away in my head that I definitely needed to find a recipe for this delectable soup.

I need a new soup recipe, because I am making soup every night even though it is still fairly warm.  October is almost over, so I have to just pretend that it’s fall.

Soup for dinner and new warm apple treats for dessert.

Everyone was sweating as we ate this soup for dinner, but no one complained.  It was too yummy.

It wasn’t exactly the soup we had at Boulevard, but it was still super yum.

Here’s how I combined the many, many available recipes.

Mulligatawny, Chino Style

1/4 cup butter

3 onions, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled

3-4 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated

1 4-5 pound roaster chicken

3 tablespoons sweet curry powder (Penzey’s)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon peppercorns

10 cardamom pods

2 lemons

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup plain yogurt

cilantro (for garnish)

Melt butter in large heavy bottomed pot.

Splitting chicken in half down the middle, brown it for ten minutes on each side in the hot butter, sealing in juices.

Then place in another large pot and fill with enough water to cover chicken.

Add peppercorns, cardamom pods, half the garlic cloves.  (I also threw in the ends of the onions and celery that I would usually discard.  You will drain this stock later so it doesn’t matter.)

Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove chicken, pull meat off bones.  (I only pulled the breasts and some of the dark meat, probably about 3 cups of chicken pieces.) Put carcass back in pot and allow to simmer 20 more minutes.

Turn off and allow to cool slightly before straining.

Meanwhile, add chopped onions, celery, ginger and the other half of the garlic cloves to the butter and rendered fat from the chicken in the heavy pot.

Add curry powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Allow to simmer until vegetables are soft.

If the liquid disappears, add a strained cup or two from the other pot.

When the vegetables are very soft, add the stock and use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  (Or you can use a blender, but in this case blend the vegetables without adding the stock first, because it will go faster.)

After the soup is blended, add the lemon juice, applesauce, yogurt and reserved chicken meat.

Bring back to a boil.

Serve warm over jasmine rice with lots of cilantro.