Mulligatawny

In our "blue" room (the long neglected third bedroom and staging/storing area and makeshift office) there are two big stacks of back issues of Cooking Light magazine. I used to like it for the recipes, and then it got stale and preachy and I canceled my subscription (about five years ago), but I've been slowly going through the issues and taking out pages with recipes I want to try on them. This one intrigued me, though I couldn't find masoor daal (which is, frankly, odd, since CL was deep into legumes in the early aughts) in it anywhere, and those pretty red lentils are part of what makes Indian take-out mulligatawny so yum! They cook up all soft and yellowy, and... I digress.

Anyway, I tweaked the recipe a little based on what I had in the house, and we liked it! So much that there are no pictures. It's all gone...

It's not like the stuff on the Indian take-out menu, and it's got heat. I also made it on Sunday, and we ate it last night, so there was time to marry the flavors and develop the heat. It's not sear-your-mouth hot, but it's got a nice, slow building, back of the mouth burn.

Spicy Mulligatawny
adapted from Cooking Light, January '02
original recipe can be found here, which is also where the pic is yanked from

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil, a little for the chicken, a little more for the veg
  
• 3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup chopped peeled Braeburn apple
• 1 meduim onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
  
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ras el hanout*
  
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock**
  
• 1/3 cup Major Grey's chutney
  
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
  

Heat about a teaspoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken, brown on all sides. Remove from pan, add a little more oil.

Add apple, onion, carrot, celery and pepper; sauté 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour, then add the spices and salt; cook another minute or so. Stir in broth, chutney, and tomato paste; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; simmer 8 minutes. Return chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes or until mixture is thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cilantro, if desired.

I made the soup sans cilantro garnish, then refrigerated it for three days. I warmed it up in the micro last night and chopped the fresh cilantro for serving.

*A Moroccan spice blend I used because I was out of prepared curry powder, and didn't feel like getting out the mortar and pestle and grinding up more.
**I think this makes the texture better than what you get with the canned stuff. Collagen is your friend.