Slow-Cooker Mulligatawny Soup
This soup is the result of British colonizers’ encounters with rasam, a souplike dish from Tamil Nadu, a region in southern India, that’s often made with lentils. “Milagu tannir,” or pepper water, evolved into mulligatawny when the British made it thick, chunky and meaty. In her book “From Curries to Kabobs,” the author Madhur Jaffrey wrote that mulligatawny was “an essential part of my childhood,” as she ate it at the homes of Anglo-Indian friends and in hotels on vacation. Mulligatawny now bears no resemblance to rasam and has many variations; it is a dish that was invented and modified for colonizers’ palates, and thus it has few rules. Ms. Jaffrey noted that “some curry powder has to be included for a true East-West flavor,” as curry powder is more British than Indian. This slow-cooker version is thickened with masoor dal and coconut cream, and enriched with chicken thighs and tart apple.
- Total:
- Serves: 6 persons
Ingredients
- ¼cup vegetable oil
- 8garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
- 2carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2celery stalks, sliced
- 1large apple, preferably Granny Smith, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size chunks
- 1cup masoor dal (split red lentils)
- 2tablespoons tomato paste
- 2tablespoons minced ginger (from about 2 inches of peeled ginger)
- 2teaspoons black or brown mustard seeds
- 1teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1teaspoon curry powder
- ½teaspoon ground cayenne, plus more to taste
- ½teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1teaspoon coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 4cups chicken broth or stock
- 1(5-ounce) can coconut cream (about ⅔ cup)
- Juice of 1 lime (about 1½ tablespoons)
Instructions
Step 1
Combine all the ingredients except the coconut cream and lime juice in a 6- to 8-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.Step 2
Stir in the coconut cream and lime juice. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Serve in bowls topped with a dusting of cayenne, if desired.