Continuing (Finally) with Mulligatawny Soup

It seems my ambitious idea of creating a food blog went to the wayside for a while. Applying to college and finishing up the first semester of my senior year was quite time-consuming. However, I am now comforted with my acceptance to Cornell University's College of Human Ecology and will begin making delicious dishes for this blog again.

Let's start with something comforting (seeing as it is currently 60 degrees in my house). When I went to Ireland with with parents a few years ago, my mother picked up a cookbook called Irish Soups and Breads by Nuala Cullen. In her book resides a delightful recipe for mulligatawny soup.

Here's my version of her recipe:

Mulligatawny Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons mild curry powder (I used hot simply because I enjoy spicy dishes)
• 6 medium onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons ground almonds
• 3 oz bacon
• 5 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 small roasted chicken, skin removed (emphasis on small; a large chicken will make the soup more like stew)
• 1 lemon
• 5 oz long grain rice, cooked
• 1/4 cup cream
• salt, to taste
• sliced bell peppers, for garnish

Procedure:

1. Cut the bacon into small cubes and slice the onions thinly. Heat oil in a large skillet and brown the bacon. Add garlic and onions and cook just until onions are softened.
2. Stir in the curry powder and cook to let the flavors develop. Next, add the stock and simmer until bacon is fully cooked.
3. Mix the ground almonds with the cream to form a paste and add it to the soup. Simmer for about 10 minutes. While soup is simmering, cut roasted chicken into cubes. Saute the sliced bell peppers in a separate pan just until they begin to soften. To the soup, add lemon juice, chicken, and salt to taste.
4. Serve in deep soup plates, separately from the rice. Garnish soup with parsley and sliced peppers.

If you want to get really fancy, you can form your rice into timbales. I used an oiled 1/2 cup measure, placed the timbale in the center of my serving dish, ladeled the soup around it, and placed my bell peppers in a ring pattern. Enjoy!