マリガトーニスープ
Mulligatawny is the Anglo-Indian "pepper water" soup: a curried chicken and red lentil soup brightened with apple, finished with coconut milk, and served over basmati rice. The lentils collapse as they simmer, thickening the broth naturally so you get a velvety, spoon-coating texture without any flour or cream. Blooming the curry powder and whole aromatics in ghee before the liquid goes in is what gives the soup its deep, toasty backbone.
Soften onion, carrot, and celery in ghee in a Dutch oven over medium heat until sweet and translucent, then stir in garlic, ginger, diced tart apple, curry powder, cumin, turmeric, and a pinch of cayenne and cook just until fragrant. Add rinsed red lentils, low-sodium chicken stock, and whole boneless chicken thighs; simmer gently, partially covered, about 25 minutes until the lentils have broken down and the chicken is cooked through. Shred the chicken, return it to the pot, stir in coconut milk and fresh lemon juice, simmer 5 more minutes, and season. Rest the soup 5 minutes off the heat, then ladle it over warm basmati rice and shower with cilantro.
- Bloom the curry powder and spices in the fat for a full minute or two before adding liquid — raw spices taste dusty, toasted ones taste deep.
- Simmer the chicken thighs whole in the soup, then shred them; they stay juicy and season the broth as they cook.
- Keep the rice separate and spoon it into each bowl so it never bloats the pot — leftover soup stays silky instead of turning to porridge.
Equipment
- Large Dutch oven or heavy soup pot (at least 5 L / 5 qt)
- Chef's knife
- Cutting board
- Wooden spoon
- Small saucepan with lid (for the rice)
- Microplane or box grater (for the ginger)
- Ladle
材料
Soup
- 30 g ghee, or a neutral oil for dairy-free
- yellow onion, finely diced
- carrots, peeled and diced
- celery stalks, diced
- tart apple (such as Granny Smith), peeled and diced, adds the classic sweet-sour note
- garlic cloves, minced
- 20 g fresh ginger, finely grated
- 13 g Madras curry powder, use hot or mild to taste
- 2 g ground cumin
- 2 g ground turmeric
- 0.5 g cayenne pepper, optional; mulligatawny should have a gentle burn
- 150 g red lentils (masoor dal), rinsed until water runs clear
- 1.4 L low-sodium chicken stock
- 450 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, left whole
- 6 g fine sea salt, plus more to taste
- 1 g freshly ground black pepper
To finish and serve
- 240 ml full-fat coconut milk, shake the can well
- 30 ml fresh lemon juice, from about 1 lemon
- 185 g basmati rice, or about 3 cups leftover cooked rice
- 10 g fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
作り方
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Melt the ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and the vegetables have lost their raw edge, 6 to 8 minutes. Don't rush to brown them — you want them sweet, not caramelized.
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Stir in the garlic, ginger, and apple and cook for 1 minute. Add the curry powder, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne and stir constantly until the spices coat everything and smell toasty rather than dusty, about 1 minute more. If the pot looks dry, add a small knob of ghee so the spices fry instead of scorch.
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Add the rinsed lentils, stock, salt, and the whole chicken thighs, scraping up any spices stuck to the bottom. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer, partially cover, and cook until the lentils have completely broken down and the chicken registers 74°C / 165°F, about 25 minutes. Skim any foam that rises in the first few minutes.
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While the soup simmers, rinse the basmati rice, then combine it in a small saucepan with 375 ml (1 1/2 cups) water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook on the lowest heat for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it covered until serving. Skip this step if you're using leftover rice — just warm it through.
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Transfer the thighs to a cutting board and shred them into bite-size pieces with two forks. For a more velvety body, briefly pulse an immersion blender two or three times right in the pot (or blend 250 ml / 1 cup of the soup and stir it back) — leave plenty of texture. Return the shredded chicken to the pot.
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Stir in the coconut milk and lemon juice and simmer gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes so the flavors knit together. Season with salt and the black pepper, tasting as you go — the soup should be gently spicy with a bright, sour finish. If it's thicker than heavy cream, loosen it with a splash of stock or water.
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Pull the pot off the heat and let the soup settle for 5 minutes; it will thicken slightly as it stands. Mound a scoop of warm basmati rice in each bowl, ladle the soup over and around it, and finish with chopped cilantro.
Make ahead
This is a soup that genuinely improves overnight as the spices settle in. Make it through the coconut milk step up to 2 days ahead, cool, and refrigerate; reheat gently with a splash of stock and re-brighten with a squeeze of lemon just before serving. Cook the rice fresh, or refresh leftover rice with a sprinkle of water in the microwave.
Storage
Refrigerate the soup (rice stored separately) in an airtight container for up to 4 days; the lentils keep absorbing liquid, so thin with stock or water when reheating over gentle heat. It freezes well for up to 3 months — the coconut milk may look slightly separated after thawing, but a good whisk while it warms brings it back together. Avoid boiling hard after adding the coconut milk.
Variations
Vegetarian / vegan mulligatawny
Swap the ghee for coconut or neutral oil, use vegetable stock, and skip the chicken. Add 250 g (about 2 cups) small cauliflower florets or a drained 400 g (15 oz) can of chickpeas with the lentils for substance. The result is fully vegan and just as hearty.
Classic creamy club-style
For the old-school British club version, leave out the coconut milk and instead stir in 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream at the end, and simmer the cooked rice directly in the pot for the last 5 minutes so it becomes part of the soup rather than a base.
Lamb mulligatawny
Closer to many early Anglo-Indian versions: brown 450 g (1 lb) cubed lamb shoulder in the ghee before the vegetables go in, and extend the covered simmer to 60-75 minutes until the lamb is tender, adding the lentils for the final 25 minutes so they don't disappear entirely.
Serve with
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition values are estimates based on the metric measurements. Adjust as needed.
よくある質問
What does mulligatawny actually mean?
The name comes from the Tamil words milagu (pepper) and tannir (water) — literally "pepper water." During the colonial era, cooks in southern India adapted a thin, peppery broth called rasam for British tables that expected a hearty first-course soup, and mulligatawny soup evolved from there into the thick, curried chicken-and-lentil version most people know today. There is no single canonical recipe, which is why versions range from brothy to nearly stew-like.
Can I make mulligatawny soup without meat?
Yes, and it barely misses the chicken because the red lentils and spices do most of the heavy lifting. Use vegetable stock and oil instead of ghee, and bulk it up with cauliflower florets or a can of chickpeas added along with the lentils. Everything else — the apple, the spice bloom, the coconut milk finish — stays exactly the same.
Why is my soup too thick, and how do I fix it?
Red lentils are natural thickeners and they keep absorbing liquid as the soup sits, so a pot that was perfect at dinner can look like porridge the next day. Simply whisk in hot stock or water a splash at a time while reheating until it flows like heavy cream again, then re-season — thinning dilutes salt and acid, so it usually wants another pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon.
Can I use chicken breast instead of thighs?
You can, but treat it more gently. Breast meat dries out during a 25-minute simmer, so add whole breasts for only the last 12 to 15 minutes of the lentil simmer, then shred them as soon as they hit 74°C / 165°F. Thighs are more forgiving and give the broth more flavor, which is why they're the default here.
Should the rice be cooked in the mulligatawny soup or served under it?
Both approaches are traditional, but cooking and storing the rice separately gives you more control. Rice simmered in the pot keeps drinking broth, so leftovers turn stodgy overnight. Spooning warm basmati into each bowl keeps the soup silky for days and lets everyone choose how substantial they want their serving.
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