Bon Appetit's Mulligatawny Soup

Combine garlic and spices.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until lightly browned on all sides. Add giblets and saute until cooked through. Transfer chicken and giblets to stockpot.

Drain all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet. Add celery, onion, carrot, leek and spice mixture and blend well. Add a small ladle of stock and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until vegetables are tender. Add to chicken.

Stir in remaining stock and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove chicken with slotted spoon and set aside. Add rice to soup and continue cooking for 15 minutes.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite-size pieces, discarding skin and bones. Return chicken to soup and blend in apples and yogurt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Degrease soup if necessary.

Stir in lemon juice, then blend in cream. Taste and adjust seasoning. Pour into heated tureen and sprinkle with parsley and almonds.

NOTE: This Classic Anglo-Indian soup, the name of which means "pepper water," should be richly endowed with meat and piquantly spiced. Taste the soup as it cooks, adding lemon juice, cayenne pepper and curry powder as necessary.

Recipe Source: Bon Appetit's now out of print cookbook series, "Cooking with Bon Appetit: Soups and Salads" (Knapp Press, 1983)