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Mulligatawny Soup

A broth-based soup with rice, onion, mace, curry powder, lemon, and tomato juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,569 recipes mention both. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Mulligatawny Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine the broth, minced onion, mace, and soaked rice.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the rice is tender.

  3. Stir in the lemon juice, brown roux, curry powder, and salt.

  4. Add the strained tomato juice and heat through before serving.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chicken + ricetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,569 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Rice + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,990 recipes

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

  3. Chicken + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Chicken + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Onion + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together20,622 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Soaked rice
Softens as it simmers, adding body and thickening the soup.
Brown roux
Thickens the broth and gives it a richer, toasted flavor.
Curry powder
Provides the spiced aroma that defines the soup.
Strained tomato juice
Adds acidity and a tangy, savory base to the broth.
Lemon juice
Brightens the flavor and adds sharp acidity.

The step that matters

Stir in the lemon juice, brown roux, curry powder, and salt. Adding acid and spices to a hot broth can be uneven if not stirred well; the roux must be fully blended to avoid lumps and thicken evenly.

Flavor stand-ins for the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, rice, lemon, tomato):

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Corianderbetter flavor fit
  3. Celerybetter flavor fit
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, rice, lemon, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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