Chickpea and Lentil Mulligatawny with Spicy Yoghurt

It's always exciting getting a new soup cookbook. I have so many soup books that sometimes I can find a "new" book on my own shelf....

I don't remember buying this book, but recently I decided to use it for the first time. It has lots of great sounding soups- some classics, some tweaked versions of favourites, some quite novel. Lebanese lentil soup. Roasted sweet potato bisque with avocado and lime salsa. Persian minted onion soup. Beetroot gazpacho with avocado cream.

For my first foray I chose Chickpea and Lentil Mulligatawny with Spicy Yoghurt. I've adapted it a bit.

25gm unsalted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
125gm chickpeas, soaked in water overnight and then drained
2 tblsp prepared curry paste
1 tblsp gram (chickpea) flour
1 L chicken stock
125gm puy lentils
1 tblsp mango chutney
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped
400ml can light coconut milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cumin yoghurt
1tsp ground cumin
1 small pot of Greek yoghurt

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion, garlic and turmeric, cook over a low heat until softened. Add the soaked chickpeas and curry paste and cook for 5 minutes, then sprinkle over the chickpea flour and stir it in. Pour on the stock and bring it to the boil, then simmer for 2 hours topping up with more liquid if it begins to get too dry.

Stir in the lentils and simmer for 30-40 minutes, then add the mango chutney and apple and cook for another 20 minutes.

For the cumin yoghurt, stir the cumin and yoghurt until combined.

Pour the soup into a blender/thermomix, blitz until it is a smooth puree. Return to the pan, add the coconut milk, and reheat. Season to taste. Serve topped with cumin yoghurt.

Notes
Always beware of recipes that aren't photographed in books that have a photo accompanying each recipe. They are usually an unappealing colour.  Especially if the chosen picture is of an ingredient that isn't even in the recipe.

I omitted 1 tsp dried red chilli flakes. The original recipe also included two smoked chicken breasts to be served shredded on top. I never bothered with that.

I used a yellow curry paste.

You can just blitz a few unsoaked chickpeas in a thermomix or fast blender to make the chickpea flour. And then use leftover chickpea flour on parboiled potatoes before roasting them- crispiest roast spuds ever!

Pea, mint and pine nut soup

While pea and ham soup isn't one of my great favourites,  I do love a fresh pea soup. This intriguing twist caught my eye recently. It was delicious, and so simple.

Pea, mint and pine nut soup

1 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
1 leek, washed and sliced into rings
1 L chicken or vegetable stock
600gm fresh or frozen peas
2 tblsp chopped mint
2 tblsp pine nuts

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add onion, celery and leek and cook, stirring, for 5-7 minutes until vegetable are soft but not coloured. Add stock, peas and three quarters of the mint and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast pine nuts by tossing in a frying pan until golden. Roughly chop nuts and combine with remaining mint leaves.

Remove soup from heat. Puree until smooth. Season, return to heat and serve hot, sprinkled with pine nuts and mint.

Serves 4
David Herbert
The Weekend Australian Magazine
31/3/12

Note
I actually cooked mine in the Thermomix, I'm sure it would be just as easy, and just as wonderful on the stovetop.