Mulligatwaney Stew

MULLI-GUT-WAAN-EE. That’s how it’s pronounced.

If you haven’t heard of this soup and you’re Indian, don’t feel too badly about it; I never knew about it growing up and never heard it mentioned on my many trips to parts of India! It’s been translated many times over and isn’t any longer an authentic Indian dish. Originally, mullig meant “pepper” and waney meant “water. It became an adapted British stew/soup that came about when the Brits were occupying India. They probably having come upon South Indian style rasam, a thin broth-like pungent soup with many spices that is served alongside a traditional Indian meal, just like daal dishes are presented. The soldiers then changed it up back home, creating their mulligatwaney soup using the flavors they reminisced about when they were in India. To make it a heartier soup course, they added meats and sometimes other ingredients like apple or coconut, ingredients not often found in the original “rasam” dish (here’s a recipe similar to the one I make).

My take on Mulligatwaney adapts it even further to reflect healthy, nutrient-dense, plant-heavy cooking. My recipe still has all the spices to add intrinsic culinary medicinal properties and flavor, but I’ve incorporated more seasonal vegetables and legumes for added protein. I also recently taught the recipe to a class at the Sustainable Food Center here in Austin with my colleague and friend Dr. Shelly Sethi, a fellowship-trained Integrative Medicine physician. She and I will be collaborating on more classes in the Fall and the topic will always be some aspect of culinary medicine, so stay tuned to my subscription newsletter for that!

This substantial vegetarian stew, my version of mulligatwaney, is a hit with our Meal Share Plan group, including the children, and I’m happy to share the recipe here with you!