What Color is Mulligatawny Soup?

I’ve heard of Mulligan Stew, with it’s mixture of whatever was available at the time, sometimes beef, potatoes, left-over vegetables. But, Indian Mulligatawny Soup is new to me.

One of my favorite cookbooks is Betty Crocker’s “New International Cookbook”, which was updated several years ago to include nutritional information. I keep a copy of the book on my shelf for easy reference, it’s full of authentic dishes from 81 different regional cuisines, each with well-tested, easy-to-follow recipes.

Betty includes a recipe in that book for this most unusual, misunderstood and controversial dish. Yes, as I began to research this traditional Indian dish for the Boquete Gourmet upcoming “Exotic Flavors of India” cooking class, I was surprised at what I discovered.

I found the flavor, texture and color are very different in EVERY SINGLE RECIPE I found! It seems impossible for Host Executive Chef, Lauretta Bonfiglio to include any Mulligatawny Soup recipe in her upcoming cooking class. It would be just too complicated to explain how to make this “authentic” dish. It would be controversial, and it might be “off-color”.

Consider a thick yellow Mulligatawny soup shown in the top photo, with lots of yellow saffron, celery, butter, and curry powder cr.

Or, think about the creamy red Mulligatawny soup with tomatoes and red peppers found here.

I even found the smooth green Mulligatawny soup pictured below.  It is made with eggplant and other green ingredients.

Each of these recipes and photo credits can be found by clicking the color of each soup.

After all that research, I really like Betty Crocker’s recipe for “an Indian spice-filled soup adapted to British tastes in the days of colonial strength”.

Indian Mulligatawny Soup

2 1/2 – 3 pound fryer chicken, cut up
4 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon curry powder (homemade, if possible)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon each ground cloves and ground mace
2 medium onions, minced
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 apple, chopped
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
Parsley for garnish

Heat the first 6 ingredients in a Dutch oven, cover and simmer until chicken is done, about 45 minutes. Remove the chicken and broth from Dutch oven and add enough water to the broth to make 4 cups. Remove bones and skin from chicken and cut into pieces. Cook and stir onions in butter in the Dutch oven until tender. Remove from heat and stir in flour. Gradually stir in broth, then add chicken, apple, green pepper and tomatoes. Heat to boiling and reduce heat. Cover and simmer until carrot is tender, about 10 minutes. Serve in shallow soup bowls and garnish with parsley.

Would you like to guess the color of Betty Crocker’s recipe? Try it and you may be surprised.

To help make the soup turn out to be the color you would like it to be, you can use your own blended curry powder you make in Chef Lauretta’s upcoming “Exotic Flavors of India” cooking class. See details about the class on the calendar at the right. Click September 22.

Hope to see you there!

Cora

The Rye Guy

Boquete Gourmet Host Chef and Artisan Baker, Mort Rabkin has made a big name for himself among rustic bakers all over the world. First, Mort loves to bake, which is truly a passion with him. Folks from Ohio to Panama know of his love of baking, the attention he pays to details, and his passion for sharing his knowledge with others.

Mort has presented eighteen classes in bread-making in the Boquete Gourmet Host Chef Program, more than any other Host Chef. He has taught bakers how to make sourdough from scratch to use in French breads, pancakes, bagels and foccacia. Mort enjoyed sharing his holiday bread recipes, including challah and festive fruit breads.

Since his arrival in Boquete almost 3 years ago, Mort designed and, with the help of his wife Barbara and many friends, built a wood-fired clay oven behind his riverside home. Ever since completing the oven, Mort’s passion has been fueled for his newly-found “avocation”, baking rustic rye and sourdough breads.

The building and refining of Mort’s oven wasn’t easy in Boquete, as not many locals had ever heard of such an oven. To see actual photos of the building procedure, you may click here.

The oven took many weeks to complete.  A design had to be developed, construction materials assembled, builders hired and supervised throughout the entire procedure. Mort had to  dry the bricks, clay and mortar. After that, it took quite awhile to warm up and “season” the oven so it could be used to get consistent results.

Before he could even think about teaching, Mort had to perfect his recipes so he could produce the most delicious, crunchy and authentic artistic breads possible in Panama, especially at high altitudes. It took many weeks to develop the exact loaf of bread that Mort had been dreaming of baking.

Finally, Mort was really enjoying his new-found avocation, making authentic rustic rye and sourdough breads and teaching others how he does it. Some of Mort’s fellow bakers are helping to check the progress of their newly-created breads. Aren’t they loving it?

Doesn’t this loaf of Mort’s warm rye bread look like the best bread you have every tasted? All you need to add is a slice of tender ham, Manchego cheese and a little Dijon mustard, and nothing could be better!
If you’d like to get a loaf of Mort’s freshly baked bread or to learn about other breads Mort bakes, visit his website at www.theryeguy.com.  If you’re interested to learn how to make another of Mort’s favorite breads, traditional French baguettes, click November 17 on the calendar at the above right for information about Mort’s next class.  You’ll learn how to make baguettes using the classic “wet” method.

Thanks to Mort, Boquete residents are able to enjoy authentic rustic breads, and we’re learning how to create amazing breads at home in our own ovens.  Above all – everyone is HAVING A GOOD TIME doing it.

Come join the fun!
Cora

Bake a Short Cake

Short cakes are not shortcakes, like I used to eat as a child, dripping with mashed strawberries and whipped cream. No, I’m talking about the new craze to serve a small portion of a short, rich cake after a fine, gourmet dinner. Of course, I would serve it with a steaming cup of delicious Boquete coffee!

I just baked a short chocolate cake in a nine-inch round cake pan and frosted it with peanut butter icing. It was easy to make, and everyone really loved the familiar flavors.

Over the last year and especially lately, short cakes are all the rage around Boquete, showing up on dessert menus and at fancy dinner parties. When serving a short cake, make the portions small, they are so tasty and rich, “smaller is better”.

Short cakes don’t need to be served with any garnish, but with a topping of fresh fruits, a sprinkling of confectioners sugar, whole nuts, or a dollop of whipped cream, they will be remembered forever!

This recipe is one of my favorite short cakes, “Date Walnut Cake”. I found it many years ago in Gourmet Magazine and adapted it slightly. It’s fairly easy to make for a large dinner party, and I like serving it with real whipped cream.

Host Chef Renny Kranich taught me to whip cream with my big whisk in a stainless steel bowl sitting in ice water. No sugar is needed when you serve fresh, whipped cream atop your short cake.

Date Walnut Cake

1/4 cup boiling-hot water
1 1/2 cups pitted dates (1/2 lb), finely chopped
1 1/2 cups walnuts (5 oz), toasted and cooled
3/4 cup sugar, divided
2/3 cup Panko or fine bread crumbs
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously grease a 9- by 2-inch round cake pan with softened butter or vegetable oil and dust with bread crumbs, knocking out excess. Pour hot water over dates in a large bowl and let stand 15 minutes to soften. Pulse walnuts in a food processor until chopped, then add 1/4 cup sugar and pulse until nuts are finely ground. Add Panko, zest, cardamom, and salt and pulse until combined. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt in a bowl using an electric mixer at medium-high speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a slow stream, beating until whites hold stiff glossy peaks.

Whisk yolks into date mixture. Fold one third of yolk mixture into whites, then fold in remaining yolk mixture gently but thoroughly. Fold all of nut mixture into batter. Spoon batter into cake pan and bake until golden and springy to the touch and cake just begins to pull away from side of pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 30 minutes, then invert onto rack and cool completely.

“Peach Buckle” is another of my favorite short cakes. It’s quick to make and I top it with peaches and cinnamon crunch before it’s baked. No need for anything else! You’ll find the recipe for “Peach Buckle” in the Boquete Gourmet Community Cookbook, which is a gift to all ticket-holders at the Cookbook Party #2 – SALE and SWAP coming up on Friday, August 26, beginning at 3:00pm. And, you may be able to taste my “Peach Buckle” at the party.

Get more information by clicking “Register Now” on the calendar at the right above. Chef Renny will prepare her famous “Pico de Gallo”, Chef Juan will cook up some “Bunuelos”, Chef Betty will serve up her “Boquete Tamales”, and Chef Dede will be grilling watermelon at the party, just to name a few.

Yolanda will be mixing “Pisco Sours”, Betty will bring her rich and delicious “Espresso Cheesecake”, David will “Pickle Eggs”, Anita will bake her very tasty “Olive Cheese Balls”, and many other celebrity chefs featured in the cookbook will be there presenting dishes to the party-goers. Live music, free cookbooks, Cookbook Sale and Swap, and lots of other fun activities will be available, so come and party with us!

Cora

Tabuli Salad for Better Health

Boquete Gourmet Host Chef, Peace Farideh Azad brought a totally different idea of food preparation to our little mountain town in Panama, “Combining Foods for Better Health”. Participants learned unique, “plant-based” cooking techniques, with emphasis on properly combining ingredients to promote optimum health and wellness.

There are many charts that show how certain foods can be combined for better digestion. Peace advocates having certain fresh fruits prior to eating your meals. For instance, papaya stimulates your digestive fluids, so Peace prepared dishes of papaya for everyone to enjoy just before serving her Tabuli Salad.

In the Middle East, Tabuli, also spelled Tabouleh, is a fresh vegetable salad with the green ingredients dominating. The dish’s global popularity has led to new interpretations and regional modifications such as the use of couscous or quinoa in place of bulgur, which is traditional.

PEACE’S TABULI SALAD

1 package quinoa, prepared as directed
2 large bunches parsley, finely chopped
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
2 pounds tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, finely diced
10 fresh limes, juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste, sea salt is preferred if possible

After the vegetables were carefully prepared, each was placed in their separate dish, mis en place style. It was easy for Peace to combine the ingredients in a large bowl, toss them with flare, and serve garnished with fresh sprigs of mint.

During the cooking process, Peace wanted to simmer the quinoa and water very slowly until it became tender. This is almost impossible to do with the gas-top burners she was using. The lowest setting was just too hot, which is often the case with my burners.

Because this is a common concern with most cooks in Boquete (our gas is bottled), a friend discovered a new gadget to solve this problem, the “Simmer Mat”. This clever device was invented in New Zealand, where cooks must have the same problem as we have in Boquete. 

Carol brought a mat back from the states for me to try, and I love it. The cast iron heat diffuser works perfectly to spread the heat to ensure long slow cooking.

If you’d like to order a Simmer Mat from Amazon, click here, it’s only $14.95.

Peace completed her menu by making a delicious Plant-Based Soup using quinoa, Vegetable Curry with yucca, and two versions of Brown Rice. No dessert was needed following the lunch, because at the end of the afternoon everyone agreed they felt full of energy from the well-combined meal they enjoyed during the class.

The Tabuli Salad was definitely the highlight of the class, as there were no salad leftovers at all!

Thanks to all the “souz-chefs” for making each ingredient so beautiful, as you can see. Thanks to Peace for showing us another way to improve our overall health and well-being, and in such a delightful manner!

Salud!
Cora