Mulligatawny Soup

Quote from Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Here I am in Agra in my pinafore, gazing at the Taj Mahal

I'm posing in Kerala at the Southern tip of India

Traveling in India in 1972, I did not have the pleasure of tasting mulligatawny soup, at least that I can remember. In those days I was more interested in art history and dance than in food, so most meals in India are long forgotten. What remain with me are the vibrant flavors. the scrawny chickens in Delhi,  the red-hot vindaloos served in Goa, and the heavenly lobster in Kerala on the Southern tip. Though I was careful to eat only cooked food, no unsterilized water, and no yogurt, I got bolder as the months-long trip wore on, and by the end I was indulging in street food with no disastrous results. I came home craving the flavors of the places I had visited.

I  took this photo of a fish market in Goa in 1972

After traveling for three months in India and Nepal, I returned to Berkeley, an aficionado of Indian food and culture. But  unlike today, there were no Indian restaurants in my neighborhood and few in San Francisco. I can only remember The North India Restaurant, specializing in tandoori dishes, in San Francisco and The Khyber Pass in North Oakland offering nearby Afghanistani cuisine.  I seldom indulged. In addition, there were few Indian cookbooks available. The famous Time/Life series," Foods of the World," published a lavishly photographed volume in 1969 called Foods of India by Santha Rama Rau, which I devoured. Then, in March 1975, when Sunset Magazine printed a recipe for "India-style Chicken Soup (Mulligatawny)" in a section called "You use every bit of the bargain chicken," I tried it. After faithfully completing the numerous steps in the recipe, I found the result to be quite special. The finished soup had a haunting, exotic curry-like flavor and texture that I had not encountered before.

     At this point, I have collected  many Indian Cookbooks, both recent and rare, so for another description of mulligatawny soup, I referred to one of my favorites, Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni. She writes, "I first tasted this soup sixteen years ago in an elegant restaurant in Frankfurt Germany... Contrary to what the name suggests (mullaga means pepper, and tanni means water or broth), what I tasted was an exquisitely delicate broth, faintly laced with spices that brought back the familiar aromas of home...
     Because of its unorthodox origin, Indian cooks have had a field day exercising their creative genius with it. As a result, there are innumerable interesting variations of this soup around the world today...       
     This is the one occasion on which I set aside my spices and use a commercial curry powder blend, because then only am I able to re-create the flavor and aroma that once captured my senses."

Longing recently for something exotic, I unearthed the old Sunset Magazine recipe in my files and set about adapting it to my present tastes and habits. This meant using less butter, leaving out the flour, and using freshly cooked garbanzos instead of canned. The idea of utilizing the canned garbanzo liquid didn't appeal to me.  Here's the adapted recipe:

simmering chicken legs in broth with veggies

First, I made "stewing broth" as instructed. I used two large whole chicken quarters, though the recipe calls for one whole chicken. I simmered them in 5 cups chicken broth and 3 cups water, with one small onion, a stalk of celery, one carrot, 1 t. salt, 2 cloves, 1 T. coriander seeds and one half cup grated coconut. I skimmed fat from the broth and boiled it for 30 min. until the chicken was just done. Then I  removed the skin, took the meat off the bones, reserved it and strained the broth, pressing on the contents through a metal strainer. That was my broth.


I chilled the meat and broth til I was ready to make the Soup: In a soup kettle, melt 2 T butter. Add 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped, 2 cloves minced garlic, 3 t. curry powder, 1/2 t. turmeric and saute until onion is soft. I decided to add three thickly sliced, parboiled carrots to the soup at this point. Stir in prepared broth, and simmer for 15 minutes. Whirl 1 can garbanzo beans with their liquid (or about 2 to 3  cups cooked bulk garbanzos) in the food processor with some water to thin the mixture. Add to soup with all reserved chicken. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add prepared brown basmati rice, lemon slices and chopped cilantro to soup bowls before serving. (serves 4)

The recipe, printed in 1975, concludes: "At 49 cents a pound, our whole chicken cost $1.47, serving 4 for 37 cents each." 

Mulligatawny soup adapted from the Sunset Magazine recipe

My two favorite Indian cookbooks, pictured below, are: Julie Sahni, Classic Indian Cooking, New York, William Morrrow, 1980 and Madhur Jaffrey, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. Both authors have written many other excellent books on Indian food and cooking.

                                             

Cheese Board Pizza celebrates Indian Independence

A lovely couple allowed me to photograph their pizza and even offered me a slice

PIZZA OF THE DAY:  ROASTED POTATO CURRY

Late Saturday morning while heading for the Cheese Board to buy some Parmesan cheese, I passed the line at the pizza annex next door and couldn't help but peek at the  chalkboard where "Today's Pizza" is described. When I saw that it was a completely wild and original concoction of  roasted curry potatoes, onions, Bulgarian feta, mozzarella, cilantro and chilis, I knew I had to join the queue and buy a slice, which actually translates to a generous slice and a half. Only then did I notice that there was a celebration going on. Indian music was playing, and flags and garlands festooned the shop. When I reached the poster at the entrance, I discovered that August 18th is three days after Indian Independence Day and this particular pizza was developed by the Cheese Board wizards to commemorate that momentous, historic event in 1947.  How very Berkeley, how very wonderful!  Luckily, having just come from the farmers' market, I had my camera in hand, so to occupy myself in the long line, I started snapping photos of happy diners spilling onto the sidewalk, enjoying hot Indian-style pizzas, and pizza-makers hard at work creating the days speciality. Everyone was very cooperative.

Bright Indian flags decorated  the Pizza shop

A pizza-maker sprinkles cilantro on hot pizzas in the open kitchen

                              

A pizza sliced and ready to serve

I finally reached the front of the line and ordered my slice (and a half) of pizza to go. When I bit into the pungent, cheesy morsel,  the spices and chilies immediately transported me to a street scene in Mumbai or Delhi. I glanced up and saw a quote by Gandhi that the staff had posted for the occasion:  "A coward is incapable of exhibiting love. It is the prerogative of the brave." Then, leaving the celebration with pizza in hand,  I noticed a multi-generation Indian family enjoying the independence pizza and I knew we were all one.

Mother supplies napkins for her family, happily eating curried potato pizza

FEATURED BOOK:
                                                          Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children, Johnathan Cape, 1981
  

25th Anniversary Edition of Midnight's Children

       For a compelling and thorough coverage of events surrounding India's independence from England, my friend Andrew, author of guest blog "Cobras in the Compost," reminded me of this wondrous novel by Salman Rushdie. The book recounts the turbulent history of these years through the eyes of the narrator Saleem Sinai who was born at midnight, August 15th, 1947 at the exact moment when India became an independent country. He and all the other children born within that fateful hour were imbued with special powers, which transport the book into the realm of magical realism. Though it is a long novel and full of complicated historical details, it is a work of genius and will reward the reader who perseveres. It was awarded the prestigious Booker Prize in 1981, the year it was published, and has been reprinted many times, in both cloth and paperback editions.