Mulligatwany soup

This is a cracking soup, of all you've ever had is the soup out of a tin, do try this, it's completely different and delicious!   My recipe is based on one i saw on "The Hairy Bikers" TV show, but I've added my own variations as ever.

Ingredients

25g unsalted butter
1 tbsp Rape seed oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
3 medium carrots
4 celery sticks, peeled and chopped
1 fennel trimmed and chopped (optional)
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
3 eating apples (I use cox or gala) peeled, quatered and cut into cubes
1 tbsp medium to hot curry powder
2 tspn ground coriander
2 tspn ground cumin
1 ltr chicken stock (home made if possible, otherwise whatever you have)
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp mango chutney

100g basmati rice
50g leftover roast chicken (optional)
1 tbsp chopped coriander

Method

Melt the butter with the oil in a pan then add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery sticks, fennel and sweet potato.  Cook over a medium heat until all the veg are softened or taking on some colour.  Stir in the apples, curry powder, ground coriander and ground cumin and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Make the stock up if using a cube, or add the 1 ltr home made stock to the vegetables along with the tomato purée and mango chutney.  Bring the whole to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or until the veg are nice and soft.

Meanwhile, cook the rice.  Cover the rice with boiling water leaving about an inch of water above the rice, boil it for 10 minutes until soft then drain.

When the soup is cooked, leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then blend with a hand blender until it's nice and smooth.  Add extra water to the soup to reach the consistency you prefer, I prefer a goo, thick soup.

To serve, put a spoonful or two of rice in the bottom of a bowl, add the hot soup and then put the shredded chicken on the top with the chopped coriander.