Vegetable Mulligatawny Soup

A faithful reader emailed me last week wondering if I made a vegetarian version of Mulligatawny Soup. Though I sometimes enjoy a bowl of spicy mulligatawny soup when visiting Indian restaurants - my local favourite being the dark and very spicy version offered by Curries Indian restaurant here in London, Ontario - I had yet to make my own, until now.

Mulligatawny, literally "pepper water", is Anglo-Indian in origin. There are hundreds of versions of this soup. It's easy to make, though it does take a little while to prepare the ingredients for the soup. I had a browse through a few of my cookbooks, and decided to try Madhur Jaffrey's recipe. I've adapted it somewhat to suit my tastes. Free feel to experiment with different kinds of vegetables, and add some chopped fresh chillies for extra heat.

This soup is a thick version of Mulligatawny, but you can add more stock if you wish to thin it out a bit. It can be served with any Indian meal. As is the case with most soups, it tastes better the next day once the flavours have had a chance to blend, so for an even spicier soup, make it ahead of time and simply heat it up before serving.

Vegetarian Mulligatawny Soup

1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
2 - 3 tablespoons of whole coriander seeds
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1/2 - 1 teaspoon of cayenne
2 tablespoons of chickpea flour
5 - 6 cups of vegetable stock
1 large potato, diced
6 fresh mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 small turnips, peeled and diced
4 - 5 tablespoons of red lentils
12 fresh curry leaves, or a couple of crushed bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 14 ounce can of coconut milk
salt, to taste

In a heavy frying pan, dry roast the peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds over medium-high heat. Stir for a couple of minutes, or until the spices begin to emit a roasted aroma and darken a bit. Remove from the pan, let a cool a bit and grind the seeds in a coffee or spice grinder. Ms. Jaffrey recommends pressing the ground spices through a fine meshed sieve for a finer soup. Add the turmeric and cayenne to the ground spices and set aside.

Put the chickpea flour in a medium sized bowl and add a few tablespoons of the stock. Stir and remove any lumps. Add another 5 cups of stock and mix.

Combine the chickpea flour mixture, spices, all of the vegetables and lentils, curry leaves or bay leaves, garlic, onion and ginger in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and gently simmer for about 45 - 50 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add more stock if necessary. Using a blender, or an electric hand mixer, process the soup until well combined. If using an ordinary blender, you will have to blend the soup in batches.

Return the soup to the pan, add the coconut milk and salt and simmer the soup for a couple of minutes to combine the flavours. Again, more stock can be added if you wish. Serve with lime wedges.