Lamb Mulligatawny: Easy Indian Soup Recipe

If you are a fan of spice and the flavours of Indian cuisine, then one of the best soup options is lamb mulligatawny, which is probably the best-known Indian soup. The soup’s origins are from Indian cuisine, and the name comes from the Tamil words for back pepper and water, so it translates are pepper water.

The soup is related to the dish rasam, which poorer families traditionally cooked to save money. Typical ingredients used in the dish include rice, vegetables, stock, and spices. Several varieties are available, and the traditional Indian types include vegetable mulligatawny and lentil mulligatawny. The British first added meat to the dish, and lamb mulligatawny and chicken mulligatawny are now both popular dishes.

It is the sort of dish with multiple recipes, as Indian families have passed down their recipes from one generation to the next, and other cultures have adapted the recipes to suit their palates and the availability of different spices.

Our lamb mulligatawny soup recipe is a tasty, easy-to-make, and budget-friendly Indian soup. It uses spices most people will have in their store cupboards, and you can adapt the recipe to suit your spice preferences. While our recipe uses lean lamb, you can also use leftover cooked lamb meat from a Sunday roast, or you can fry off some minced lamb to add to the soup. Here is our easy lamb mulligatawny recipe.

Useful Information

Ingredients for Lamb Mulligatawny Soup Recipe

• 450g/ 1lb lean lamb meat, such as neck end, bones removed
• 1l meat stock
• 2 medium onions finely chopped
• 1 green pepper thinly sliced
• 2oz butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 115g/ 4oz basmati rice
• 1 chilli finely diced
• 1 tbsp finely chopped or grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp each of ground cumin, turmeric, coriander, curry powder, and black pepper
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• Juice of half a lemon
• 3 tbsp natural yoghurt
• Salt to season

How to Make Lamb Mulligatawny Recipe

1. Add the butter and oil to a pan and put over medium-high heat on the hob.
2. Next, add the meat to the pan and cook for approximately five minutes, occasionally stirring to brown the meat on all sides.
3. Use a slatted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and set it aside on a plate.
4. Add the chopped onions and sliced green peppers to the pan and saute for three minutes until beginning to soften.
5. Then, add the chopped ginger, chilli, garlic, black pepper, and all the spices to the pan. Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. If the ingredients start to stick to the pan, add a splash of water.
6. Return the meat to the pan and cover the mixture with the stock.
7. Add the lemon juice and stir in the tomato puree.
8. Cover the pan and reduce the heat, then leave the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Add the basmati rice to the pan and cook for a further 15 minutes.
10. Check the tenderness of the meat and make sure the rice is cooked. If you need to tenderize the meat further or the rice needs longer, cook for five more minutes.
11. Remove the pan from the heat before stirring in the natural yoghurt, then serve the lamb mulligatawny soup immediately.

Additional Tips

• If you like soups with spices, you might also like our Moroccan chickpea soup, hot and sour soup, prawn laksa, and Thai coconut and vegetable soup.
• Leave out the yoghurt if you want to make a dairy-free soup.
• Experiment by adding different spices to suit your tastes.
• Add extra chilli for a hot lamb mulligatawny soup.