The Soup Nazi's® Indian Mulligatawny Soup

This fabulous recipe comes from a restaurant cloning web site. Here's the story: "Al Yeganeh -- otherwise known as the Soup Nazi from the Seinfeld episode which aired in 1995 -- is a master at the soup kettle. Yeganeh's mastery shows when he combines sometimes unusual ingredients to create unique and delicious flavors in his much-raved about soups. In April I took a trip to New York and tasted around a dozen of the Soup Nazi's creations. The Mulligatawny was among my favs. After each daily trip to Soup Nazi's headquarters, I immediately headed back to the hotel and poured samples of the soups into labeled, sealed containers which were then chilled for the trip back home. There, in the home lab (okay, it's a kitchen) portions of the soup were rinsed through a sieve and ingredients were identified. After that, it was a matter of trial and error, figuring out the measurements for those ingredients. The result was a successful clone that I can now share with you. Just be sure when you make this soup, that you simmer it for at least four hours or until the soup reduces by more than half. The soup will darken as the flavors intensify, the potatoes will begin to fall apart and the nuts will soften."

4 quarts water (16 cups)

6 cups chicken stock

2 potatoes, peeled & sliced

2 carrots, peeled & sliced

2 stalks celery, with tops

2 cups peeled & diced eggplant (about 1/2 of an eggplant)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup frozen yellow corn

2/3 cup canned roasted red pepper, diced

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

1/2 cup roasted cashews

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup butter

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1 bay leaf

dash marjoram

dash nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a large pot over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 hours or until soup has reduced by more than half, and is thick and brownish in color. It should have the consistency of chili. Stir occasionally for the first few hours, but stir often in the last hour. The edges of the potatoes should become more rounded, and the nuts will soften. Serve hot. Makes 4-6 servings.

Tidbits: Because of the extreme reduction, I found that the salt in the chicken stock was enough for the recipe. However, if you use a stock that isn't so salty, you may find you need to add extra salt to the soup.