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Cool Off With a Spicy Soup by Dana Jacobi for The American Institute for Cancer Research

When the weather is hot, spicy dishes provide a form of internal air conditioning. This is one reason Indian dishes, as with those in most tropical parts of the world, use fiery ingredients so liberally. Whether it’s a vindaloo heavy with cayenne pepper, curries studded with fresh chile peppers, or a steamy cup of masala chai spiced with cinnamon and black peppercorns, Indian dishes all encourage your body’s natural cooling system by making you perspire.

During the Raj, the period when India was ruled by the British, Anglo-Indian cooks, understanding the health benefits of highly-spiced food yet aware of the more sensitive Western palate, created dishes whose intensity was adjusted to please the colonials. They succeeded so well that recipes for favorite dishes of the Raj, especially gentler curries made with prepared curry powder and mulligatawny soup, traveled as far as the United States. For Americans who grew up before the influx of Indian immigrants brought more authentically native cooking to our shores, dishes popular during the Raj were among the first Indian foods Americans tasted.

Summer and winter, mulligatawny soup, a ruddy purée that the British enhanced by adding chicken, is a light but filling one-dish dinner. To enrich the broth, whole, bone-in but skinless breast, can be poached in a commercial chicken stock. It comes out beautifully succulent, while boneless cutlets overcook easily, turning dry and tough.

This mulligatawny includes beans and an apple. Puréed in the soup, the beans assure a creamy texture while keeping it healthfully lean and adding beneficial complex carbs. The apple’s sweetness softens the underlying edge of the ginger’s flavor and the many spices used in curry powder. Adding a dollop of yogurt to each bowl of the finished soup provides a cooling contrast to the soup’s flavor. You can also garnish it with unsweetened coconut flakes, available now with reduced fat and without sulfites, at many health food stores.

Mulligatawny Soup - Makes 5 servings.

• 1 skinless whole chicken breast, 1 1/4 lbs.
• 4 cups fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 large onion, chopped, 1 3/4 cups
• 1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1-1 1/2 Tbsp. curry powder
• Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)
• 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
• 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup plain (unflavored) non-fat or low-fat yogurt
• 8 tsp. reduced-fat dried coconut (optional), for garnish

Place the chicken in a deep, large saucepan. Add the broth, beans, 1 cup of the onion, and apple. Over medium-high heat, bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the chicken is white in the center, about 25 minutes. Remove the chicken. When it is cool enough to handle, pull apart the meat into bite-size pieces and set aside. Transfer the remaining contents of the pot to a blender and whirl to a puree. Set aside. Wash out the pot.

In the clean pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the remaining onion, and green pepper until soft, about 6 minutes. Mix in the curry powder, ginger, and cayenne, if using, until they are fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the puréed soup, potato and tomato paste. Simmer until the potato is tender, about 15 minutes.

To serve, divide the chicken among 4 soup bowls. Add the soup, then the yogurt. Sprinkle on the coconut, if using, and serve.

Per serving: 323 calories, 5 g. total fat (less than 1 g. saturated fat), 34 g. carbohydrate, 38 g. protein, 6 g. dietary fiber, 530 mg. sodium.

AUTHOR:

“Something Different” is written by Dana Jacobi, author of 12 Best Foods Cookbook and contributor to AICR’s New American Plate Cookbook: Recipes for a Healthy Weight and a Healthy Life. The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on the relationship of nutrition, physical activity and weight management to cancer risk, interprets the scientific literature and educates the public about the results. It has contributed more than $86 million for innovative research conducted at universities, hospitals and research centers across the country. AICR has published two landmark reports that interpret the accumulated research in the field, and is committed to a process of continuous review. AICR also provides a wide range of educational programs to help millions of Americans learn to make dietary changes for lower cancer risk. Its award-winning New American Plate program is presented in brochures, seminars and on its website, www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International.

RECIPE POSTED AUGUST 25, 2005

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