[Guest Post] Vegetarian Mulligatawny Soup

I met Melissa from My McDonald Meal back in February of this year when a group of us toured the local butcher shop and meat processing plant Marksbury Farm, and soon thereafter she became one of the first members of the Kentucky Food Bloggers Association.  Her blog is filled with tons of family-friendly and healthy recipes, and I've had a great time getting to know her and her cooking style.  Go over and check her out!  Thanks, Melissa, for offering this guest post while I'm away in January!

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Mulligatawny! Nope, I'm not the soup Nazi from Seinfield. Instead I'm the coaxing mother trying to convince her daughters that this time they will like the soup!! Honestly, it would be kind of nice, though, to have the power of that guy from those episodes! His deep voice, stern eyebrows and intimidating demeanour. Hey- whatever it takes to get your kids to eat sometimes--right?

Anyway, I took what I thought was the base flavor of the Mulligatawny soup from our favorite Indian restaurant in town and added some other ingredients. If you look this soup up in Google you'll find many talking about a "peppery" based soup with some heavy ingredients and some saying that the real thing has to have chicken. Well--see what you think of this one instead. A little lighter, still peppery, and plenty healthy! Vegetarian and vegans will enjoy.

Vegetarian MulligatawnySource: My McDonald Meal

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 small white onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
4 carrots, cleaned and diced
1 cup diced green pepper
1 small tart apple, peeled and diced
1 cup red lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 cup canned chickpeas
6 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp coriander
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper, or to taste
1 cup light coconut milk

Directions
Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large stock pot. Add the onion, and celery and saute until softened. Then add garlic, ginger, curry, turmeric and cayenne and briefly stir for to season the oil. Add the carrots, potato, and apple. Allow to cook until softened, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the broth and chick peas; season with a salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, cover and simmer the soup, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Add the coconut milk and either lower heat and gradually add small batches to a food processor or carefully use immersion blender to smooth out the texture. Bring back to a low heat and serve. Enjoy with cooked brown rice as a side or stir in with a tad of plain yogurt!

**Photos courtesy of the guest author.

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