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