Tasty Tuesday:: Mulligatawny Soup

I'm sure I've said it before, I'm a frugal person.  Luckily I have a group of friends who share that trait.  We've done all the free things to do in LA: the beach, free Getty Saturdays, free Getty Villa, free OC fair, you name it!  And recently we've been opting to stay in and cook rather than go out to a restaurant. 

A few weeks ago we made an easy version of mulligatawny (an Indian inspired soup). We bulked it up by adding more than the directed amount of celery, carrots, and apples.  I don't  know how authentic this soup is, but it's sure tasty :)

INGREDIENTS
* 1/2 cup onion, chopped
* 2 stalks celery, chopped
* 1 carrot, diced
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons curry paste (powder is okay too!)
* 4 cups chicken broth
* 1/2 apple, cored and chopped  (I used Fuji apples)
* 1/4 cup white rice
* 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed
* salt to taste
* ground black pepper to taste
* 1 pinch dried thyme
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1 cup pineapple (optional)


DIRECTIONS
1. Saute onions, celery, carrot, and butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 30 minutes.

2. Cook the chicken. You can grill it, microwave it, pan fry it, whatever.

3. Add apple, pineapple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.

4. When serving, add hot cream. Or add cream to soup and simmer for another few minutes until its hot and serve.

Yum! I think its either the thyme or heavy cream that makes this soup wonderful. Hmmm, it's probably the heavy cream ;)