My version of the famous mulligatawny soup is much quicker and simpler. Made with leftover roast chicken or turkey this soup is perfect to repurpose those leftovers!
If you love Indian flavours, check out my Butter Chicken Recipe and Red Lentil Dahl.
I’ve been enjoying my recently discovered love for soups and it’s been fun to experiment with flavours. Don’t get me wrong I’ve been cooking soups since I was a teenager. After all I grew up in a Russian family but I never learned to truly appreciate soups until adulthood.
That might be because as an adult I started exploring different flavours and cuisines, which led me to so many delicious soup recipes from all over the world. This mulligatawny soup is one of them.
Mulligatawny soup recipe
Although considered an Indian soup by many, mulligatawny soup is part Indian, part British. This sort of fusion cuisine is certainly not unheard of, with tikka masala as a particularly famous example. This one was invented by Indian cooks when the British kept requesting soup as the first course during the colonial rule.
Of course, soup is not traditional to Indian cuisine and mulligatawny was developed from something else entirely. Originally it was just a thin sauce served over rice but over time got bulked up with vegetables and meat to accommodate the British taste.
The result is a slightly creamy soup, surprising as there is no dairy to be found. What isn’t surprising is aromatic, complex and mildly spicy soup. It’s comforting, wholesome and an amazingly satisfying meal.
Ingredients
This soup can take a lot ingredients as long as it’s got the non-negotiables.
- red split lentils (moong dal)
- traditional Indian spices like turmeric, ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander
- meat stock
- rice
There are of course hundreds of recipes for this delicious soup. Many of them blend the soup once it cooked and serve it over rice.
My version however, keeps the mulligatawny soup chunky with rice added to it.
How to make it
As you can imagine any soup recipe will benefit greatly if you start with a delicious tasting stock, which takes hours to make. We don’t always have hours.
So to make it easier and quicker I developed this recipe using leftover roast chicken and ready made stock. Another shortcut I used is a scoop of a curry paste with all the spices blended for me already. Instant flavour without the fuss.
Using my quick mulligatawny soup recipe you can have a delicious and filling meal in 30 minutes. You can also use your leftover turkey or chicken in a recipe that tastes completely different from where it started!
Recipe tips and notes
- Although the recipe calls for chicken breast, it also is a great use for leftover roast turkey and chicken.
- I keep frozen spinach around for recipes like this one. Just three cubes add a lot of colour and nutrition to the soup. Fresh spinach will also work and will add a beautifully vibrant green to the soup.
- Kale is another great option if you have some in the fridge.
- The same thing applies for any vegetables you might want to use up. Feel free to add them to the soup. Frugal and nutritious.
- Red lentils are commonly used for mulligatawny soup, but yellow lentils are a good substitute.
- Mulligatawny soup will become even more delicious on the following day but it might get too thick. In that case, just add a cup of chicken or vegetable stock to thin it out.
Serving suggestions
Some people add a dollop of plain yoghurt or cream to their bowl of mulligatawny soup but I prefer it without. I do enjoy adding a squeeze of lemon though, along with chopped parsley!
What I always add to a soup lunch is a hearty piece of chunky sourdough bread, although this recipe is perfect for flatbread or naan.
Storage and leftovers
Soup can be kept in the fridge for 4-5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. This makes batch cooking a great option. Make some extra and keep it for whenever the urge for a warming soup hits you!
The rice in the soup has the tendency to soak up liquid as it sits, so you may need to add water or stock to keep it loose when reheating. Reheat by returning to a saucepan and bringing to a boil, or in a microwave if a small amount.
More hearty soup recipes
- Slow Cooker Thai Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Yellow Split Pea and Ham Soup
- Restorative Beef and Cabbage Soup
- Chestnut and Squash Soup
- Harvest Minestrone
Mulligatawny Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 carrot diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 1 tbsp prepared Indian curry paste such as Madras Curry by Patak’s or similar
- 2 litres/8cups chicken stock
- 200g/1 cup red split lentils
- 100g/1/2 cup basmati rice
- 2 chicken breasts or equivalent amount dark meat cooked
- 3 cubes/2/3 cup frozen spinach
- ½ lemon juice of
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large soup pot and saute diced onion, carrot and celery over low heat for 5 minutes. The add minced garlic, grated ginger, the curry paste and cook for 30 seconds longer while stirring. Then add the chicken stock, red split lentils and rice, turn the heat up and bring to a boil.
- Once boiled cook for 10 minutes over medium heat. Then add cooked chicken diced into bite-sized pieces and frozen spinach. (No need to defrost first.) Cook for 5 -7 minutes until the lentils and rice are soft. Then squeeze the lemon juice directly into the soup and season with salt to taste.
