Venison Mulligatawny Soup

By chef, Tony Carr

We are often lucky to be offered an entire deer, or venison. When presented with a whole animal, a good chef’s mind instantly starts dreaming up all the different dishes you can create from all the various bits of the animal so that almost nothing is wasted.

This hot and spicy soup always goes down well and, now that Autumn seems to be here, it will be popping up on the menu whenever we have some venison as it’s a lovely rich and warming dish for this flavoursome mince.

Serves four people

• 300g venison mince
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground coriander
• 4 cardamom pods - crushed
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp curry powder
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
• ¼ tsp garam masala
• 2 litres chicken stock
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 small white onions - finely diced
• 2 sticks of celery finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic chopped 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• ½ cup of basmati rice

1. Sweat the onions, celery and garlic until softened, but not coloured.
2. Add all the spices and sweat for a further 2 minutes, stirring regularly so it doesn’t burn. Add the tomato pure and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Cook for a further 10 minutes then reduce the heat to a simmer and scatter in the minced venison. Be sure to break up the mince as you don’t want any large lumps stuck together.
4. Add the rice and stir to disperse. Cook until the rice is tender, then remove from the heat, check the seasoning and serve.