An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [15]
Leftover ham on toast
Jumbo shrimp on toothpicks
Whole-wheat samosas
Cocktail koftas
Broiled chicken strips
SEE ALSO:
Vegetables stuffed with kheema
hile India does not, as a nation, drink soup, we have, fortunately, many communities within the subcontinent that insist on being exceptions to the rule. The Anglo-Indians (a 300-year-old community with a mixed English and Indian heritage) make a delicious mulligatawny soup (a corruption of the Tamil words milagu-tannir, meaning “pepper water”) with meat and chickpea flour, and the Bohris of Gujarat make a superb “white soup” (safed sarvo) with goat’s meat and milk.
The appetizers you will find in this chapter are those among the Indian “snack” foods that can be most conveniently eaten with drinks—triangular samosas, filled with meat or potatoes, small vegetable fritters, and ground meat kababs. Kababs, often sprinkled with finely sliced onion rings, are favorites among Indian Scotch drinkers. The North Indian word for alcoholic beverages is sharab, and it is very interesting that the North Indian label for a man who drinks and eats well is sharabi-kababi!
Mulligatawny soup
SERVES 4
Judging from the Tamil origin of the name “mulligatawny” one might deduce that it originated in the Madras region 100 to 300 years ago under the benevolent gaze of British patronage. British in concept but Indian in its ingredients, this hearty soup became very popular with the Anglo-Indians scattered all across India, and there are probably as many recipes for it as there are Anglo-Indian families. My favorite was the one made by a family who eventually decided to migrate to Australia. The day before their departure they came to our house to say good-bye. I remember that we all sat out on the lawn and I begged them to leave their recipe for mulligatawny soup with me. This is their recipe.
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, about ½-inch cube, peeled and chopped
½ pound boneless lamb (from shoulder or leg), with fat removed, and cut into ¾-inch cubes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white poppy seeds, roasted and ground
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
⅓ teaspoon salt (more if the broth is unsalted)
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chickpea flour
2 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2–3 tablespoons cooked rice, or 1–1½ tablespoons uncooked rice (optional)
Put the garlic and ginger into the container of an electric blender with 3 tablespoons of water. Blend at high speed until you have a smooth paste. Set aside.
Pat dry the pieces of lamb. Heat the oil in a 2–3-quart pot over medium-high flame, and add the meat. Turn, and fry until the pieces are lightly browned on all sides. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Turn the heat off.
To the same pot, add the paste from the blender, the roasted and ground poppy seeds, the coriander, cumin, and turmeric. Turn the heat to medium, and fry, stirring constantly, for about a minute. Turn heat to low.
Now add the browned meat and any juice that may have accumulated, the salt, cayenne, and black pepper. Stir and leave on low flame.
Combine chickpea flour and ¼ cup water in a bowl, mixing thoroughly until you have a smooth paste. Slowly add the chicken broth, stirring as you do so. Pour this mixture over the meat in the pot. Turn heat to high and bring soup to a boil. Add uncooked rice if you are using it. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for half an hour or until meat is tender. Stir in the lemon juice.
If you are using cooked rice, add it to soup 5 minutes before serving. Pour the soup into a tureen or into individual bowls. Mulligatawny soup can be served with both Indian and Western-style meals. Since it is thick and fairly filling, it can be a main course for lunch or a light supper followed by a green salad and fruit.
White soup (safed sarvo)
SERVES 4–6
This relatively unknown but delicious soup is made by the Bohris