Mulligatawny (Spicy British-Indian Soup)

Flicking through a Marie Claire cookbook I found a recipe for something called Mulligatawny. I had never heard of this before but the picture was pretty and the dish looked tasty. Eager to try something different I had a bit of a google around and found out that this dish was invented by (or perhaps more likely for) a British Raj in India. Apparently the name has Tamil origins and means something like hot pepper water. So now that I knew what it was I decided to have a crack at it. Looking at the ingredients list I could see curry powder was the only spice in it. Which is probably what makes it British Indian rather than simply Indian. So I decided to make my own spice mix instead. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to use curry powder as a quick and easy way to season things. But if I'm going to cook for an hour I think I might as well do it the right way :) After many adjustments to the recipe this was no longer the orignal by a long shot. More like Mulligatawny inspired by Marie Claire. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients

• splash of olive oil
• 200g lamb rump steak, cut into 1-2cm chunks
• 1 brown onion, finely diced (I did mine in a mini food processor so I didn't have to cry)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 cm ginger, minced (you can do this in the garlic crusher or in the food processor at the same time as the onion)
• 1 tsp pepper corns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 4 cardamon pods
• pinch salt flakes
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• pinch saffron threads
• 3 roman tomatoes, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced (keep the leaves)
• 1/2 long red chilli, cut in half lengthways
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 125mL coconut milk
• 1/3 cup basmati rice
• lime, chilli, natural yoghurt, celery leaves to serve 

To Cook

• Heat the oil in a large casserole dish over high heat. Once heated add the lamb and brown.
• Meanwhile get all the spices together (cardamon, pepper, salt, coriander and turmeric powder) and grind up in a mortar and pestle. Scoop out the shells of the cardamon pods.
• Add the spice mix, onion, ginger, garlic and saffron to the meat. Cook until it becomes fragrant.
• Add the celery and rice and stir to make sure everything is coated well in the spices.
• Add the tomato, chilli, stock and coconut milk, Stir and bring to the boil. 
• Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30mins, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has thickened and the meat is tender. 
• Serve in bowls with a dollop of natural yoghurt, some fresh chilli and the celery leaves. Squeeze lime juice over as desired. 
• This made enough for dinner and luncht the next day :)

The perfect meal for a cold night

This dish smells unbelievable good

So much better with fresh ingredients and a nice glass of red :)