Tadka mulligatawny

A 'tadka' is an oil infused with spices used in Indian cooking to add richness and depth of flavour. In this recipe, it's added to mulligatawny, a South Indian soup of chicken in a thick and fragrant curry broth.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1 cm piece peeled ginger, sliced
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 400 g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 220 g (1 cup) chana dal (yellow split peas), soaked for 30 minutes
• 1 green apple, cored and roughly chopped
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped
• 200 ml coconut milk

Tadka

• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 red Asian shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 cm piece ginger, peeled and shredded
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 10 curry leaves
• ½ tsp Korean chilli powder (or Kashmiri)

Instructions

1. Heat a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, add the coconut oil and fry the onion, garlic and ginger for 1 - 2 minutes. Add the turmeric, curry powder, garam masala, salt and carrot and stir for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the tomato, stock, dal, apple and sweet potato, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir through the coconut milk and cook for a further 10 minutes.
2. Roughly blend the soup with a stick blender. You still want a bit of texture.
3. For the tadka, heat the coconut oil in a small saucepan and fry the shallot and ginger over medium heat until lightly golden. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and a pinch of salt and stir until the mustard seeds pop and the curry leaves crisp. Remove from the heat and stir through the chilli powder. Spoon the hot tadka over the soup and serve.

 

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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