Hearty Chicken Mulligatawny Soup Recipe

Like curry, kedgeree, and coronation chicken, Mulligatawny soup is a dish that is derived from the historical British colonial presence in India. The result of this fusion of two very different culinary traditions is commonly referred to as Anglo-Indian cuisine, a hybrid that has created many well-loved and ever-popular dishes.

Mulligatawny soup is an adaptation of a traditional Indian broth, known as molo tunny, or "pepper water" (via The Guardian). This spiced broth was modified to suit British culinary tastes of the time and to accommodate the availability of the ingredients. Mulligatawny soup is both filling and very nutritious, with the inclusion of spices and curry powder giving an extra dimension of warmth to the soup (and who doesn't love a warming soup?), and the coconut milk adding a richness and sweetness.

Traditionally served either as a meat or a vegetarian dish, this version of mulligatawny, created by recipe developer Jennine Rye, uses chicken thighs to give the soup a meaty and hearty flavor. Perfect for lunch or dinner, this soup can provide a great immunity boost if you're feeling under the weather, and is easily scaled up if you're catering to a large group, or looking for a good meal to prep ahead of time and store in batches.

To begin this hearty chicken mulligatawny soup recipe, first, you will need to gather the ingredients. You will want coconut oil, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds to start off the dish. You will want an onion, carrots, celery, ginger, and garlic, along with mild curry powder, bay leaves, coconut milk, and chicken stock. To add heartiness to the soup you will additionally need chicken thighs, apples, and basmati rice. Finally, to finish off the dish you will require scallions and cilantro.

Heat up a large, deep pan over medium heat. Add the coconut oil and then toast the cumin seeds and mustard seeds in the pan until they are fragrant and begin to make a popping noise.

Add the onion, carrots, celery, ginger, and garlic to the pan and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes until the vegetables are softened.

Add the curry powder, bay leaves, coconut milk, chicken stock, and chicken thighs to the pan.

Place a cover on the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low heat, then leave the chicken to poach in the pan for 10 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the pan.

Add the basmati rice and the chopped apples to the pan, and let the pan gently simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, until the rice is cooked through.

Shred or cut the poached chicken into small pieces. Then, once the rice has cooked through, return the chicken to the pan.

Season the soup with salt and pepper, to taste, and then serve the finished mulligatawny soup hot and fresh, topped with sliced scallions and roughly chopped cilantro.

Mulligatawny soup is as versatile as it is flavorful. In this particular recipe, the star ingredient is chicken, but mulligatawny soup is also often served as a hearty vegetarian dish — it doesn't need to contain a protein at all.

If you are cooking this hearty mulligatawny soup for vegetarians, or you just fancy trying it without the meat, there are a few simple steps and substitutions you can make. First, you will obviously want to remove the chicken, and swap out the chicken stock for vegetable stock. As the chicken helps to give the soup its heartiness, you will likely want to substitute another ingredient into the recipe in its place. Lentils are a common ingredient found in vegetarian versions of mulligatawny soup and they make for a delicious alternative. Absolutely packed full of nutrients and protein, you will want to make the right choice when it comes to adding lentils to this soup; red or yellow lentils are ideal, and can be added to the recipe in place of the chicken. Simply cook them according to the packet's instructions, and feel free to leave in or omit the rice as you see fit to make this a delightfully hearty vegetarian dish.

Most soups are freezer-friendly, making them an ideal dish for batch cooking. There's nothing better than reaching into a well-stocked freezer and pulling out a ready-prepared meal; all you need to do is let it defrost and then heat it up, perfect for busy weekdays when you already have enough on your plate, without cooking dinner from scratch.

This hearty chicken mulligatawny soup is ideal for home freezing, but make sure to watch out for a few things when filling up your Tupperware with the cooled soup. Liquids expand as they freeze, so to save yourself the trouble of a big freezer clean-up somewhere down the line, don't overfill your containers so that they end up spilling. If you are looking to freeze soup in individual portions, it is a good idea to invest in small, freezer-friendly containers. Alternatively, you can use a jumbo muffin tin to freeze your soup in portions; simply pour out the cooled soup into the individual muffin holes and then place it into the freezer. Once the soup is solid, the single portions can be transferred to a freezer bag, and don't forget to label and date your frozen meals so you can safely consume them down the line.

Mulligatawny soup is derived from a broth that was named "pepper water," which might give you the idea that this dish is on the hot side of the spicy scale. However, the adaptations made to suit colonial British tastes of the time mean that this is a very mild dish, using a mild curry powder to add heaps of spiced flavor, without making it hot-spicy. This recipe also utilizes an Indian cooking process known as "blooming," which cooks whole spices in fats for a short while to enhance their flavors and make the resulting dish wonderfully fragrant and spiced.

However, if you do enjoy a bit more of a spicy bite to your dishes, it is perfectly possible to turn up the heat in this soup. If you would like to make your chicken mulligatawny hotter, you can always swap out the mild curry powder for a medium or a hot curry powder, or simply add a little chili powder to suit your tastes along the way.