Saturday, November 03, 2007

Saturday Soup 5 Fall 2007

We just returned from the last home game of the Penn State season--since I didn't get to post my Saturday soup before we left early this morning, here it is.

This soup was my all time favorite soup at our church Bistro. Several years ago, when we were doing the Best of Bistro--I begged for the committee to choose Mulligatawny soup--to no avail. I was informed that although it is tasty, it is time consuming. So I will just have to taste it in memory.

The editorial note which identifies the soup as an early American standard is a bit confusing--the source of the note is the woman in our church who is a trained chef who vets all the recipes for ingredients, quantity, directions, and such. I believe the origin of this soup was from the British Raj days of bringing foods back to England from India.

Mulligatawny Soup


Makes 12 servings.

This recipe is an early American standard, which boasts a harvest of winter vegetables and the somewhat unusual tastes of curry and almond milk. This version is somewhat time-consuming. You might want to sauté your chicken and make the almond milk ahead of time.

INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
12 T. butter
(1-1/2 sticks)
3 pounds chicken pieces
4 medium carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
10 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound blanched almonds
1 cup water
1 cup tightly packed spinach leaves
2-1/2 T. curry powder
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves

1) Melt 6 T. of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add carrots, onions, garlic and potatoes. Cook 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until onions become translucent. Remove vegetables from the pan and reserve. Wipe out the pan.

2) Add 2 more T. of butter to the skillet and melt. Sauté chicken pieces until they are nicely browned, then place them into a soup kettle.

3) Add chicken broth and bring soup to a simmer. After 30 minutes of simmering, check one of the larger dark meat pieces of chicken for doneness. The chicken should be almost ready to fall off of the bone when it is done. Remove chicken pieces from the kettle and allow them to cool slightly. Discard skin and bones and chop the chicken into small bite-size pieces. Return chicken to the pot. Return the soup to a simmer.

4) While soup is simmering, make almond milk. Toast almonds in the oven at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes until they just turn light brown. Grind them in a blender or food processor for 2 minutes with 1 cup water. Strain mixture through fine mesh strainer (or double layer of cheesecloth). Reserve all almond milk and discard residual almonds.

5) Add spinach leaves and reserved sautéed vegetables to the kettle. Simmer for 1 minute.

6) Melt remaining 4 T. of butter in a small skillet and stir in curry powder. Add curry mixture and almond milk to the soup kettle. Add cream and cilantro and bring just to a simmer.




If you try it and like it, let me know.

8 comments:

Beverly said...

Go, Penn State! If Purdue hadn't committed those personal fouls, the score might have been different! But a win is a win. I envy your seeing those home games.

Ruth said...

I thought this was an Indian soup. It was developed in the colonial days when the British were in India. It is served at all of our local Indian restaurants. I love the taste (love curry!)I have a vegetarian version made with split peas instead of chicken.

KGMom said...

Ruth--I quite agree. The note that indicates it is an early American standard was written by the chef who vets all the recipes. I think she meant that the particular version came from American cookbooks.
One of our local Indian restaurants has a Mulligatawny soup that is quite flavorful, but doesn't have the chicken.
I too am a huge fan of curry.

cat59 said...

This sounds delicious! Although it is different, it reminds me of a recipe Possumlady brought back from her trip to Africa for a stew made with chicken and coconut milk.

Pam said...

What an unusual and interesting soup. I don't know if I'm going to be able to talk anybody into making this one for me, I was always the one who liked to be challenged in the kitchen.

dguzman said...

Ooh, I think we'd like this soup with the veggie substitution. I'll let you know if we try and like it. Thanks!

And aren't you kinda glad you can stop sitting through that PSU game traffic!? I couldn't even get out of my driveway last night for all the traffic.

Climenheise said...

I like Mulligatawny Soup, so maybe we'll try this. We just had our first snow, so a bit of curry soup is indicated. Lois doesn't like anything spicy, so I'm not sure how to handle that ... Maybe I'll just eat it all myself!

Mary said...

I am learning you are quite a football fan! I'm not a football fan but I completely enjoyed the games I've attended (a few in my lifetime) :o)

Good soup! I like the ingredients because right now, it's time for HEAVY CREAM>