Mulligatawny Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 6 onions
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 oz pounded almonds
• to taste lemon pickle or mango juice
• 1 fowl or rabbit
• 4 slices lean bacon
• 2 quarts medium or best stock
• to serve boiled rice

Method

Heat the stock beforehand and keep it at a gentle simmer — cold stock hitting the pot will leach flavour from the meat rather than seal it. Line your heavy-bottomed pan with the bacon strips and set it over medium-high heat. Slice the onions thinly and fry them in the bacon fat until deep golden, almost mahogany at the edges — this takes eight to ten minutes and builds the foundational caramelisation that carries the dish. The Maillard reaction here is your anchor; rush it and the soup tastes hollow.

Cut the fowl or rabbit into joints roughly four centimetres across — keep them consistent so they braise evenly. When the onions are properly coloured, push them to the side, increase the heat, and lay the joints directly onto the bacon. Don't stir; let them sit for three minutes on each side until they're lightly browned and stuck to the pan. The surface contact matters — you're after flavour compounds, not a blanch. Mince the garlic fine and add it now with a pinch of salt to release its oils. Pour in the hot stock slowly so the bottom doesn't scald. The liquid should come three-quarters up the meat. Bring to a bare simmer, braising|braise covered for forty-five minutes if rabbit, sixty if fowl, skimming the grey foam every fifteen minutes — this isn't fastidiousness, it's the removal of denatured muscle proteins that cloud the broth and muddy the spice work ahead.

While the meat cooks, blend the curry powder with a small cup of cold stock into a smooth slurry; powder hitting liquid directly will ball and grit. Pound the almonds with a little more stock to a loose paste — they'll thicken the soup and deliver a faint bitterness that sharpens the acid of the pickle or mango juice. When the meat is fork-tender and the stock smells rich and savoury, stir in the curry paste and almond mixture. Simmer uncovered for ten minutes so the spice|curry powder fully hydrates and its volatile oils bloom. The soup should smell peppery and warm, not raw. Taste, season with salt, then finish with lemon pickle or mango juice to taste — the acid cuts through the fat and cools the heat of the spice. Finish with a turn of white pepper if the soup feels flat. Serve in bowls with boiled rice on the side, not stirred in — the starch should stay separate so the broth remains clean.