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Vegetable Mullagatawny

A Caribbean vegetable stew made with onions, marrow, cucumber, apples, and curry powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 734 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Vegetable Mullagatawny

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup base

  1. In a large stewpan, melt the butter until it is about to brown.

  2. Add the sliced onions, vegetable marrow, cucumbers, and apples.

  3. Stir often and cook over gentle heat until the vegetables are tender.

  4. Mix in the curry powder and salt, then stew for an additional 20 to 30 minutes.

  5. Gradually add enough boiling water to just cover the vegetables.

Strain and finish

  1. When reduced to a pulp, press the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean stewpan.

  2. Add more liquid to make a total of 2 quarts.

  3. Adjust seasoning with salt, cayenne, or acid as needed, and serve hot.

  4. Skim off any butter that appears on the surface or stir in a small amount of arrow‑root mixed with cold broth to absorb it.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cucumber + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together734 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Onion + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Apple + ricetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Butter + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Melted and browned slightly, it adds richness and a nutty aroma to the soup.
Apples
Their acidity brightens the flavour and balances the curry powder and sweetness of the vegetables.
Vegetable marrow
Breaks down into a soft pulp that gives the soup its body.
Cucumbers
Release moisture as they cook, contributing to a smooth, mild, pulpy texture.
Curry powder
Its spices bloom in the hot fat, providing the main aroma and warmth of the soup.

The step that matters

Cooking the butter and vegetables gently until tender. Gentle heat softens the vegetables evenly without scorching the onions or butter, which would add bitterness and an unwanted burnt flavour to the soup.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, cucumber, rice):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, cucumber, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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