I used to love the mulligatawny soup at the old Elephant and Castle pub downtown where I’d often meet friends for lunch when I worked in a law firm in the early 1980s. That mix of sweetness and curry and pepper was always the perfect thing for a cold, rainy Vancouver day. I’ve been meaning to make a vegan version for years, and today someone posted a link to this recipe on one of my plant-based Facebook groups. It had the poster’s seal of approval and I had all the ingredients, so I figured I’d give it a try.

The only thing I had to do was adapt it to the Instant Pot and that part was easy! I did make a few small adjustments to the ingredients in the original as well.

Instant Pot Vegan Mulligatawny Soup

First, chop the following in the food processor and pulse until chopped, but not blended:

• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 thumb-sized chunk of ginger
• 4 cloves of garlic

Turn the Instant Pot onto saute and saute the onion, ginger, and garlic for five minutes. For the last minute, add:

• 1 TBS curry powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Next, put the following in the Vitamix:

• 1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can coconut milk

Blend until tomatoes are smooth and pour into the Instant Pot, along with:

• 1 cup red lentils

When the mixture comes to a boil, add:

• 1 peeled, chopped carrot
• 2 peeled, chopped potatoes
• 1 peeled, chopped apple

Close the Instant Pot and set it for 2 minutes.

Do a controlled quick release and blend half the soup in the Vitamix (or with an immersion blender) and return to pot.

Serve topped with chopped green onion…and a fresh baguette, which will be baked by the time this soup is done!

Yum–this mulligatawny is wonderfully lush and delicious!

And the song of the day is The Decemberists’ “We Both Go Down Together” because we were listening to this yesterday and arguing over whether it reminded us more of The Talking Heads or REM: