Mulligatawny Soup

"In my quest to find delicious soup recipes to add to my box, I came across this one on allrecipes.com. I love the flavor of curry, and indian food, so I couldn't wait to try this, especially since it got such rave reviews. Check my notes at the bottom for some tips."

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
1/4 cup white rice
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half - cut into cubes
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch dried thyme
1/2 cup heavy cream, heated

DIRECTIONS:

Saute onions, celery, carrot, and butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 hour.
Add apple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.
When serving, add hot cream.

Notes:

-Most people suggested doubling the recipe because the left-overs are even more delicious.

-double the apple (I peeled mine even though the recipe didn't call for it)

-the recipe doesn't say whether to cook the chicken ahead of time, so I did, and just used cooking spray as to not add extra fat.

-there didn't seem like enough rice, so I would double that, also, if you don't use minute rice, you may want to put it in longer than the 15 minutes (as suggested by others)

-you can use coconut milk instead of cream for a more exotic flavor. You can also omit the cream, or just use milk

-adding garlic gives it extra flavor. I added 1 clove of minced to the pan when I sauted the onions, carrots and celery

-some people suggested doubling the curry for more flavor (yellow curry)

-you can add a spice called "garam masala"

-you can puree the soup in a food processor to make it thicker. I didn't, but i would think the best time is before you add the chicken rice and apples ( I wish I would have)