I joined a gym this year
Its a nice ladies only place that is very friendly, and is very supportive of my no-using-arms-only-legs restrictions and my pretty purple and cream arm casts that I have to wear every day. They have lots of incentives, fun events and support local charities as well. One of the extra nice things this month has been a weekly tasting of a hot, healthy soup to encourage us members to eat right without having to compromise on deliciousness or excess calories. We've been dazzled with Pumpkin, Italian Vegetable, Broccoli and Blue Cheese, Sweet Potato and Lentil, and todays offering of Fruity Mulligatawny Soup with Quinoa.
Mulligatawny is a bit of a colourful name coming from the Tamil word Milakutanni, meaning Pepper Water, and isn't at all a traditional Indian dish but rather another invention of the British Raj. There are heaps of variations, with some relying on lentils or rice to add body to the soup, some including chicken meat and stock, and some using coconut milk or even plain dairy cream to enrichen the dish as well.
Well today I'm going with the recipe sheet supplied from my Gym, but with a couple of my own touches to tweak it just a little to suit my tastes perfectly while still keeping it totally healthy, low fat and delicious. Yummo, let's share the love!
Mouthwatering Mulligatawny Soup
2 tab Oil
1 large Green Apple
1 large Carrot
1/2 Sweet Potato
1 Onion
1/4 cup Sultanas
1-2 tab Curry Powder (makes sure it's gluten free and delicious)
1/3 cup Quinoa
1 lt Vegetable Stock
1 tab Mango Chutney
1 tab crushed Ginger
1 tab crushed Garlic
Roughly chop the veggies and apple
Pop them along with the sultanas, curry powder, garlic and ginger into a pan with the oil and sweat them down over a low heat until softened. This will also take away the raw harshness of the curry powder and allow the spices to toast and mellow nicely
Add the stock and chutney, then simmer for about half and hour or so
While the soup is simmering, wash your quinoa well to remove any traces of the natural saponin coating that can give quinoa an unpleasant bitterness instead of a nice nuttiness
Add it into the soup, and simmer for about another 15-20 minutes or so
You can tell if your soup is ready if the veggies can be mushed with a spoon, and if the quinoa has developed cute little tadpole tails
Blend it all up with a stick blender, or other blitzy thing, until it's lovely and silky smooth
There, a lovely big bowl of hearty healthiness!
Very easy, just one bowl to wash, and extra yummy to boot. The only thing I would change for myself is to either leave out the chutney or half the sultanas. The soup is quite sweet for me and that's just a personal preference
To make my soup an extra filling main meal I served mine up with a hard boiled egg and just a little scoop of yoghurt to cut through the sweetness and finish rounding out the flavours. A splash of coconut cream would be delicious on top too if you happen to have some handy
So Dear Readers, do you belong to a gym, and what's your favourite warming Winter soup?
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