Foodie Friday: Vegetarian Mulligatawny

Some of you (like my husband) may know mulligatawny from Seinfeld's infamous Soup Nazi. I am not a Seinfeld watcher (cough, cough) so I have never seen that episode. I have had a vague notion of a soup called mulligatawny but I don't think I'd ever had it until last week at the Portland airport. We were just grabbing a quick bite but trust PDX to be fabulous-- at a great little deli called Elephant's I got a cup of mulligatawny which had me saying every second bite, "Oh my goodness, this is good."

When we got back to Boston we stayed in the city with my friend Carolyn for a couple nights and she had this very delicious soup in her fridge (which she had made) which was almost more delicious than the mulligatawny. I had to have the recipe. That soup was butternut tortilla soup (I'll share the recipe once I've had a chance to make it myself), but it was from the New England Soup Factory cookbook, which Carolyn had just gotten for Christmas, after tasting an amazing soup at someone else's house. (I had never heard of the New England Soup Factory but their cookbook is clearly making converts!) So before I left Carolyn's house I flipped through it and copied some recipes, including this one for vegetarian mulligatawny.

If you are wondering, mulligatawny is a kind of curried lentil soup with coconut milk. Supposedly the British invented it when they were in India-- hence the Indian spices, though not quite Indian preparation. I'm sure there a million versions out there. The one I had at PDX had chunks of chicken, which was very good, but I am trying to get us to eat less meat. This recipe is a winner in my book because you don't even miss the meat, it's cheap, filling and delicious, and nearly no work. I had chopped the vegetables over the weekend, which was a good thing, because in the last few days I have been hit with some nasty virus that has completely zapped my energy and left me staggering around the house moaning about how bad I feel. So last night it was nice that all I had to do was stir a pot. This version is modified a bit from the New England Soup Factory version, and I'll probably play with it some more-- such as adding another veg, or even chicken. Enjoy!

Vegetarian Mulligatawny

3 T. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large or 2 small onions, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 lb. dried orange lentils
1 T. each curry powder, cumin
1 t. ground coriander (the recipe called for 2 t., but I thought it was a little strong-- add to taste)
1 t. cayenne (the recipe called for 1/2 t.-- again, add to taste)
32 oz. can tomatoes (I used crushed because it was what I had, but I think diced would be better)
2 c. cooked chickpeas
8 c. water
2 c. peeled, chopped apple (a tart apple is best)
½ c. long-grain brown rice (such as jasmine or basmati)
2 c. light coconut milk (or 1 c. regular coconut milk + 1 c. water)
2 T. honey (or to taste if you like it sweeter)
½ bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper to taste (it needs a fair amount of salt)

Saute vegetables in olive oil until the onions soften. Add spices and stir for 1 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients except coconut milk, honey, and cilantro. Simmer 40 to 45 minutes or until rice is fully cooked. Stir in coconut milk, honey, and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with cilantro.

Makes about 20 cups.

Serves 12.