Mulligatawny: Indian Dish is a Mouthful of a Name and Full of Flavor in Your Mouth

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I, both self-employed entrepreneurial freelance types, decided to take a “business” lunch together. Not really in the mood for burgers or pizza, we nearly left town until we suddenly remembered the great Indian lunch buffet at  in Houghton.

Giddy with the flavorful spread available, we happily forked over our $9.95 apiece, parked our youngest in a booth and loaded up plates and bowls with piles of food. Curries and stews dominated the spread, but there were also a couple of different soups. The potato vichyssoise was probably great, but the harvest gold mulligatawny smelled divine.

That first slurp reminded me that mulligatawny is perhaps the one item of Indian cuisine that I know how to make.

In the Indian language Tamil, the word molaga-tanni means “pepper water.” Years of colonization by the Brits anglicized the word into its current form. Pepper, the dried fruit of a flowering vine, is native to India and was one of the most highly valued spices traded in both ancient and European cultures.

Mulligatawny has a warm, spiced flavor with a bit of sweetness from apples and richness from coconut milk. It's not overly spicy from a "hot" perspective, but definitely a good meal for a cold day. The abundant spices give it a complex flavor. The apples also lend a tart counter-note to the rich sauce. It's like a sauce for rice or bread.

My friends and family have long suspected my foodie inclinations, hitting many holiday home runs with gifts of cookbooks. Two years ago, I received a used and signed copy of Michele Anna Jordan’s book “Salt and Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes.”

Jordan’s claim of seasoning perfection is as bold as her personal flavor palette. The recipes are certainly full of boisterous personality and focus of specialty salts and peppers, as the title infers.

Though Jordan’s rendition of mulligatawny mimics closely the flavor profile of Shamiana’s, it’s more of a well-rounded meal with the inclusion of sausages and apples and is particularly wonderful over jasmine rice with fresh naan or your favorite flatbread.

Mulligatawny (makes 4-6 large servings)

2 pounds of chicken-apple sausages
1 cup fruity white wine (like Chardonnay)
2 firm sweet-tart apples, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices
4 tablespoons clarified butter (or just plain butter works!)
2 teaspoons curry powder, plus a pinch
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, plus a pinch
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus a few extra turns for the apples
2-inch cinnamon stick
1 yellow onion, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less)
4 cups homemade or low-sodium chicken stock
14-ounce can coconut milk
2 dry cups prepared jasmine rice

1. In a skillet, heat the sausages and the wine over medium heat. Cover with a lid and simmer for 7-8 minutes. Remove the lid, turn up the heat, and let the liquid evaporate. Brown the sausages on all sides (the sugars in the wine reduce to a blackish syrup that can burn … look out!). Remove the sausages, let them cool, then slice them into 1/4-inch coins.

2. In a large soup pot, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add the apples; season with the pinches of cumin and curry, plus several turns of black pepper. Add the cinnamon stick. Saute the apples until they are tender and golden-brown, then remove the apples, leaving the cinnamon stick in the pot.

3. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the same pot. Add the onions and carrots, sauteing over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Then add the ginger and garlic, cooking for another couple of minutes. Stir in the curry, cumin, salt, turmeric, cayenne, then add the chicken stock plus 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat, simmering for another 15 minutes. Add in the sausages, simmering for another 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the heat, stir in the coconut milk and 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Taste it to see if it needs more salt (which it shouldn’t since it is “perfectly seasoned”).

5. Divide the rice among the bowls. Ladle the soup over the rice and garnish with the apples.