Mulligatawny Soup (Vegetables and Lentil Soup)
By: Ruchikacooks
Published: Saturday, February 20, 2010 - 11:42am

Ingredients




Ingredients(serves-2)
cup Red onion-chopped- ¼
Potato- 3 (medium)
Tomatoes- 2
cup Frozen peas-¼
Carrots- 3 (medium size)
teaspoon Chopped Ginger- 1
teaspoon Chopped Garlic- 1
teaspoon Pepper Powder- ½
teaspoon Turmeric Powder- ½
Vegetable Bullion cube- 1 cube
Salt- to taste
teaspoon Garam Masala Powder- ¾
teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder- ½
cup Red lentils (Masoor dal) and yellow moong dal- together 
Coriander leaves- to garnish
tablespoon Lemon juice- 1
cup Water- 3-4

Preparation

1 Wash and pressure cook the dals. Mash and keep aside. 2 Chop onions, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes into small cubes. In a saucepan, add water, bullion cube,peas, turmeric powder, salt, chopped veggies , ginger and garlic and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes till vegetables are tender. 3 Add the mashed dal to the pot, along with black pepper powder, garam masala powder, roasted cumin powder and simmer for another 5-7 minutes. Add lemon juice and mix well. 4 Check for salt and spices. Re-season if needed. You can either serve this soup as a chunky mix of veggies in liquid. If you want uniform texture, use a potato masher and mash the cooked veggies and dal to a smooth texture. 5 Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve hot. 6 This mulligatawny soup can be served with  poppadams or any crunchy bread.

About


Quite a common entry in the menu cards on Indian/American restaurants- the Mulligatawny Soup. Made of lentils, vegetables and mild spices,this soup is my hubbys favorite soup and whenever this soup is listed on the menu, without a doubt he would choose it as an appetizer. I have seen a lot of people pronounce it stylishly and little did I know that the soup had originated from Tamilnadu in India, the place where I am from.
The name Mullagu means pepper and Thanni(tawny) is just water. So all in all, Mulagu Thanni  is just plain pepper water. Because of the British rule in India, I guess they liked the taste but couldnt pronounce it hence it became mulligatawny. Or may be it was a variety of  Rasam (a soup like dish with pepper, tomatoes, lemon and lentils) as the ingredients are almost similar. Nice Nah? Now a days when hubby orders Mulligatawny soup,he looks at me and gives a smile :)