Aiyah’s 7 pm cuppa Thanni Soup
One of Aiyah’s sishyas, who was a frequent visitor at the Muthiah home and was often plied with cuppas by Ayah, specifically wrote in to ask for Ayah’s Murungakkai Soup recipe, a thin soup made with drumsticks and lentil water. So, Aunty R, this one is for you. The murungakkai soup is a thanni (watery) soup, which the Chettiars are famous for and some fondly call soupie. While the request was for murungakkai, the basic recipe for any thanni soup is the same. The main vegetable can be varied, with the popular ones, historically, being just plain thakkali (tomato), cauliflower, murungakkai or vendakkai (okra / lady’s finger / bhindi). In more recent times, Chettiars across the world have taken to more exotic versions – broccoli stalk, asparagus stem, tofu etc. Here, we present to you the basic recipe and some of its variants.
I have previously written about Aiyah and Ayah’s penchant for soups. Aiyah’s love of soups must have stemmed from his years at British Public Schools, in both Ceylon and India. Or maybe it was from his rather anglicized family to whom the 7 pm soup is also a tradition. Either way, the darling daughters grew up with a cup of soup at dusk, with or without some rice sprinkled in. While that tradition is now long forgotten, I still make it a point to serve soup dinners at least one or two times a week, not necessarily with the thanni soup though.
While Ayah’s repertoire of soups was vast, Aiyah’s favourite was the thanni soup. No, wait, being a hardcore non-vegetarian, his absolute favourite was kozhi rasam (chicken in a pepper soup), but that is a recipe for another day. Anyway, Aiyah, in his foreword to The Bangala Table, a cookbook co-authored by his sister, Meenakshi Meyyappan (the force behind The Bangala, the renowned boutique hotel in Karaikudi), referred to the influence of Butler cuisine (or Anglo-Indian cuisine) – western cuisine with an Indian touch – on the kitchens of India. While the entire foreword is interesting to anyone keen on the history of the cuisine, what is most amusing is his side-note on soups – “a down-to-earth Chettiar soup made thin and flavoured the way Chettinad cooks prefer is something I’d choose over any offer of the butler.” Sorry Mulligatawny (that butler concocted pepper soup that is supposed to have been invented in the kitchens of another favourite of Aiyah’s – the Madras Club), you take a backseat! When Aiyah passed away, many of his fans and protegées saw it fit to include his fondness for soups, amidst all his achievements, in their tributes – rather telling, indeed!
Now, back to our soupie. As I said before, the basic recipe for any thanni soup is the same. Regardless of the vegetable being used, it is simmered in a lentil stock - the lentil used to flavour and nourish the soup could be either toor dal (pigeon pea / tuvaram paruppu) or split moong dal (split green gram / paasi paruppu); however, Ayah’s preference was moong dal which is supposed to be the healthier lentil and less gassy as well. So, we will go with that version. I must say though, that toor dal does give it more body, and once in a while, I will give in and sneak it into the soup – oops, Ayah!
While the apprentice, who does not believe in Ayah and Aiyah’s theory of the nutritional value of soups, has not tested this recipe, this is a rather easy, almost one pot dish to make, a special comfort especially on a cold, wintry day or even just a plain old tiring day. And with that we present to you the recipe for our 7 pm cuppa thanni Soup, with some popular recipe variations.
Note: A word of advice for anyone interested in learning to cook Chettiar food, or South Indian food for that matter, while in the strictest sense this recipe does not need them, investing in a pressure cooker and an Indian style mixer blender for masalas is a must.
Notes:
1. The basic recipe for a thanni soup is the same. However, the vegetable in it can be varied depending on what you have in your refrigerator. We have given some of the variations below like murungakkai (drumstick), asparagus (the woody stems that you would usually discard), vendakkai (bhindi / okra / lady's finger), cauliflower and thakkali (tomato).
2. If you are making vendakkai soup, use mature / woody vendakkai preferably (the ones we usually discard at the market) as it is less slimy. Once the soup is done, you can discard the vendakkai. Similarly for asparagus, the soup is better made with the woody bottom bits that are usually discarded.
3. Depending on the vegetable and the amount of time it takes to cook, there are two methods to make the soup. The first method is in the pressure cooker and works well for drumstick, vendakkai and asparagus. Method 2 is in the saucepan and works for softer vegetables like cauliflower. However, if you don't have a pressure cooker, you can use method 2 for any vegetable, however, it will take longer to cook.
4. There are variations of this recipe that can make soups of interesting vegetables like sundakkai (turkey berry / pea eggplant) and murungakeerai (drumstick leaves / moringa), that wonder green. I will post those recipes at a later date.
Ingredients:
½ cup of the vegetable of choice (increase if you like more vegetables in the soup)
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
2 green chillies, slit (increase if you want it spicier)
¼ cup split moong dal (udaicha paasi payaru), washed
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu /saunf)
3 cups water
Salt to taste (~2 teaspoons)
Tempering:
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 inch cinnamon, broken in thin strips
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu /saunf)
1 sprig curry leaves
Method 1, in a pressure cooker:
This method is preferable for hard vegetables like murungakkai (drumstick) / sundakkai (turkey berry / pea eggplant), mature woody vendakkai (okra / bhindi / lady’s finger) and the woody asparagus stems.
1. Put all the soup ingredients in the pressure cooker and pressure cook for about 5 whistles.
½ cup of the vegetable of choice (increase if you like more vegetables in the soup)
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
2 green chillies, slit (increase if you want it spicier)
¼ cup split moong dal (udaicha paasi payaru), washed
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu /saunf)
3 cups water
Salt to taste (~2 teaspoons)
2. While the soup is cooking, in a small pan, heat up the oil and add the cinnamon, peppercorns and fennel seeds. Once the peppercorns stop popping, remove from heat and set aside.
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 inch cinnamon, broken in thin strips
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu /saunf)
1 sprig curry leaves
3. Once the pressure is released from the pressure cooker (about 20 minutes from the last whistle), open the cooker and add the tempering to the soup. Turn the stove back on and bring the soup to a boil.
4. Taste and add salt / additional chilli if required. If you find it too spicy, turn off the flame and once slightly cool, add some milk (no more than 2-3 tablespoons) and simmer – do not boil as the milk will curdle because of the tomatoes in the soup.
5. See instructions below on how to pour the soup to serve.
Murungakkai Soup:
Asparagus soup:
Use the same method as above, substituting the murungakkai with the woody ends of the asparagus (that you would normally throw away) cut into 1-inch pieces. Discard the asparagus before serving - it has served its purpose of flavouring the soup.
Vendakkai soup:
Woody, mature vendakkais are preferable for this. Cut the vendakkais into 1-inch pieces. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the pressure cooker and sauté until the skin is slightly brown before adding the rest of the soup ingredients. The rest of the method remains the same. Pressure cook for 6 whistles as the woody vendakkai takes a bit longer to cook. Similar to the asparagus, discard the vendakkai before serving.
Method 2, in a saucepan / pot:
This method is preferable for softer vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli stems, murungakakeerai (drumstick leaves) or even plain thakkali (tomato)
1. Boil the moong dal with the turmeric, water and a pinch of water in a saucepan. Cook until the dal is cooked through but still separate (not mushy), about 10-15 minutes. If you are in the habit of storing boiled dal, you can use this dal with the required amount of water.
¼ cup split moong dal (udaicha paasi payaru), washed
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
3 cups water
2. Heat up the oil in a saucepan and add the cinnamon, peppercorns and fennel seeds. Once the peppercorns stop popping, add the curry leaves. Optional: Reserve some of the tempering for garnishing the soup.
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 inch cinnamon, broken in thin strips
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu /saunf)
1 sprig curry leaves
3. Next add the rest of the soup ingredients along with the dal and water and boil, partially covered until the vegetables are fully cooked but not mushy.
½ cup of the vegetable of choice (increase if you like more vegetables in the soup)
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
2 green chillies, slit (increase if you want it spicier)
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu /saunf)
Salt to taste (~2 teaspoons)
4. At this stage, remove from heat, taste and add salt / additional chilli if required. If you find it too spicy, turn off the flame and once slightly cool, add some milk (no more than 2-3 tablespoons) and simmer – do not boil as the milk will curdle because of the tomatoes in the soup.
Thakkali Soup
Same as above, but don’t add any additional vegetables. Optionally, if you have some vegetable stock lying around from previously boiled vegetables, use that instead of water.
Cauliflower Soup
Serving the soup:
The way to serve the soup is quite important. Let the ingredients in the soup settle down to the bottom. Then give it a gentle stir and use a ladle to scoop out the soup theliva (the clear liquid) – only the liquid without any of the vegetables or sediments and pour into a cup or tumbler. Alternatively, you can also strain the soup and serve.
Serve garnished with coriander leaves.
Serves: 4 people
Apprentice Rating: The apprentice did not make this, but it is quite an easy recipe to make.
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