Vegan mulligatawny curried soup is a delicious warming wholesome traditional meal that is perfect for autumn and winter. Each bite is fruity, lightly spicy and sour, and perfectly sweet.
Serve with your favourite crusty bread, crackers or poppadum’s for a satisfying crunch, or tasty chapatis or naan bread.
Mulligatawny soup is also ideal for a dinner party starter or as part of a special meal.
This recipe is easily adapted for gluten-free diets.
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Quick Origins Of Mulligatawny Soup
Mulligatawny soup originates back to 1700’s India. Mulligatawny soup was introduced to Victorian Britain during the 1800s where it was adapted with many different variations and included within cookbooks of the time.
Even though Mulligatawny soup is considered Indian in origin the soup actually derives from Sri Lanka where the name translates from Tamil to mean pepper water. Therefore the first ever Mulligatawny soup was a basic broth consisting mainly or pepper and water, and consumed by the poorer communities of Sri Lanka.
Traditional Indian Mulligatawny soup did not contain meat. However, once the soup hit British shores meat such as chicken or mutton was quickly included.
Indian Mulligatawny soup was influenced by the British colonial occupiers, and was prepared with many different curry spices, meat, veggies ad rice. Sometimes coconut, tamarind, or chilli powder was added.
Many Anglo-Indian dishes arose from the same era as Mulligatawny soup. Another popular dish is the Scottish breakfast/brunch meal Kedgeree. I have a tasty vegan version on the blog that uses smoked tofu so be sure and check that out.
Vegan Curried Mulligatawny Soup
This recipe for a vegan adapted Mulligatawny soup is not 100% authentic. It is simply my interpretation that is inspired by the traditional Mulligatawny but also affected by what ingredients I have to hand and my family’s personal preferences.
The ingredients chosen for this recipe include diced carrot, diced potato, diced celery, diced onion, diced apple, sliced garlic, sweetcorn, curry powder, and garam masala.
To prepare vegan Mulligatawny soup the veggies are first sautéed in either vegetable stock or olive oil. The choice is yours.
After the initial brief cooking, the rice, flour, curry powder and a little sugar just to enough to balance the curry powder flavours, are mixed through the veggies. Vegan stock is poured in and everything given a good mix.
The soup is brought to the boil, heat lowered, and simmered for 20 minutes. Next a few teaspoons of garam masala is mixed through and the soup is left to continue simmering for an additional 5-10 minutes.
To finish off the soup before serving, one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice is added along with three tablespoons of mango chutney, and two sliced spring/green onions.
To serve toasted cashews can be sprinkled over the top of each bowl, along with some chopped coriander/cilantro and a wedge of lemon.
If you have nice long stalks with your cilantro then slice these up and add to the cooking soup for extra yumminess.
Extra mango chutney is also tasty dolloped over the top of the soup. My kids love dunking in mini crunchy poppadum’s into Mulligatawny soup.
The little poppadum’s I buy consist mainly of gram flour and a few other vegan friendly ingredients, and easily sourced from my local supermarket.
How To Prepare Vegan Curried Mulligatawny Soup
Dice all the veggies and apple. Slice the garlic. Either sauté the veggies, apple and garlic in 125ml/1/2 cup of veggie stock or use 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Mix through the flour. Add the rice, curry powder and sugar.
Pour in the veggie stock, simmer for 20 minutes. Add the garam masala and simmer for 5-10 minutes. At the end of cooking mix through the mango chutney, lemon juice and spring/green onions. Serve with a variety of toppings and sides if liked.
Recipe Notes And FAQS
Leftover soup can be stored in the fridge, within a covered container, for up to 3 days.
Or frozen, within a freezer safe container, for up to 4-6 months.
Reheat leftovers by pouring into a saucepan and bringing to a simmer over a medium heat, and heating for 3-5 minutes until piping hot.
If frozen defrost completely before reheating.
Yes, it is easy to prepare this curried vegetable and rice soup as free from gluten. I did!
Simply ensure that your vegan stock is free from gluten ingredients, and check your curry powder and garam masala mix in case wheat is an added ingredient.
Rice flour was an additional ingredient contained within my curry powder.
Lastly use gluten-free plain flour. The one I used for this recipe was the Doves Farm brand.
A few suggestions:
* crusty bread/bread rolls/baps
* vegan poppadum’s
* naan bread
* vegan 3 ingredient flatbread
* crackers/rice cakes/saltines
* hummus chips/crisps or lentil chips/crisps or veggie straws/crisps
* crispy roasted chickpeas (recipe within the curried cauliflower soup post)
* crispy tofu bites
* tasty large green salad
* toasted or plain chopped cashews, peanuts, sunflower or pumpkin seeds
* lemon/lime wedges
* fresh chilli slices
* mint/lime chutney
* mango chutney
* chopped fresh coriander/cilantro
* sliced spring/green onions
* fresh red onion rings/slices/diced
* fresh diced or julienne apple sticks
Vegan Mulligatawny Soup (Fruity Curried Vegetable And Rice)
Equipment
- Soup pan/ large saucepan/ Dutch oven pot
- Small fry pan, for toasting cashews, optional
Ingredients
To sauté veggies:
- 125 ml vegan stock or 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Soup:
- 1 large carrot diced
- 2 sticks celery diced
- 1 medium onion diced, red, white or brown
- 1 medium potato diced
- 1 medium apple diced, any sweet eating apple variety
- 140 grams sweetcorn fresh, frozen or canned
- 4 cloves garlic diced or sliced
- 70 grams long grain rice or basmati
- 1 ½ tablespoon curry powder heaped tablespoon measurements
- 1 ½ teaspoons sugar use your usual variety or syrup
- 2 tablespoons flour gluten free plain flour/ regular plain flour/ all purpose flour /
- 2 litres vegan stock use a beef or chicken flavoured vegan stock if available
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
Add at the end of cooking:
- 3 tablespoons mango chutney plus extra to serve
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 spring/green onions sliced
Garnish
- 4 tablespoons cashews rough chopped, toasted with 1 teaspoon of garam masala or plain
- 10 grams coriander chopped, keep the stalks and add to the soup along with the veggies
Instructions
Sauté veggies with vegan stock:
- Add diced carrot, celery, potato, and onion, along with the sweetcorn, diced apple, and garlic to a soup pan. Pour in 125ml/½ cup of vegan stock and bring to a simmer. Pop a lid on the pan and cook for 5 minutes.
Or sauté veggies in olive oil:
- Heat the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the carrot, celery, potato, sweetcorn, apple, and onion and cook for 5 minutes, stir frequently. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Prepare the soup:
- Next mix the flour with the veggies.
- Stir through the curry powder, sugar, and rice.
- Pour in the vegan stock.
- Add a good few pinches of salt and black pepper.
- Stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add the garam masala and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes.
- Pour in the lemon juice, mix through the mango chutney and spring onions.
- Add enough salt and pepper to bring all the flavours together.
- Allow the soup to sit for about 5-10 minutes for the flavours to combine and settle. If your toasting cashews for a garnish now is a good time to do so.
- Serve each bowl with an extra scoop of mango chutney, sprinkle of chopped coriander/cilantro and a scattering of toasted cashews.
To toast the cashews:
- Heat a small fry pan over a high heat for a few minutes. Turn down to medium heat and add the cashews. Sprinkle in some salt and 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala. Shake the pan to cover the cashews with the spices.
- Shoogle the pan as it toasts the cashews to evenly brown. Once the cashews are very hot the pan can be lifted off the heat but continue to shake the pan as the cashews will continue to toast in the residual heat.
- When adding the cashews to the soup don't forget to shake in the salty garam masala that is left in the pan as this adds much deliciousness.
Notes
- Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients can vary. Data is run through computerized nutritional apps.
- For a lower sodium soup choose a vegan stock that has a low salt content.
- Needing a gluten-free soup? Simply use a gluten-free stock, gluten-free plain flour and check that your curry powder is free from gluten containing ingredients.
- Leftover Mulligatawny soup will keep fresh in the fridge within a covered container for 3 days.
- Or freeze for 4-6 months. Defrost before reheating.
- Reheat by bringing to a simmer and gently heating for 3-4 minutes until piping hot.
- Serve this soup with crusty bread, naan bread, chapatis, poppadum’s, or crackers.
- Use any type of rice but for wholegrain varieties that tend to need longer to cook, precooking is a good idea. Perhaps cook for around half the amount of time required and then add to the soup to finish cooking.
- Small portions of leftover rice can be used, but add this 10 minutes before the soup has finished cooking to allow enough time to cook through until piping hot.
- Instead of cashews replace with peanuts, sunflower or pumpkin seeds. Or crunchy roasted chickpeas or baked tofu bites (links to recipes within recipe notes)
Nutrition
More Tasty Vegan Curry Flavoured Soups And Stews To Discover:
Tamarind Chickpea Soup (all the flavours are here: sweet, sour, spicy and so savoury!)
Curried Cauliflower Soup With Crunchy Chickpea Croutons
Red Thai Sweet Potato, Broccoli, And Chickpea Curry
Easy Everyday Vegetable Curry (So good easily my family’s favourite curry ever)
