Café Spice, New Windsor, N.Y., whipped up new refrigerated artisanal soups that will “stick to your ribs.” 
The Chicken Mulligatawny kind, for example, is a mild version of an English recipe adapted from Indian cuisine. It contains antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed chicken, lentils, yogurt and freshly ground seasonings. Originally, mulligatawny was a sauce served over rice, so this soup can be used in cooking as well.
Madras Squash is a mild vegetarian soup featuring butternut squash, a rich orange blend of vegetables and coconut milk.
Two vegan soups complete the product line. Bombay Lentil contains a blend of several different lentils with tomato and spinach, fused with a freshly ground spicy garam masala with ginger, garlic, cumin, turmeric, red chili and fennel. Beetroot Rasam pairs pureed beets with a tomato base and special ingredients such as tamarind.
“My inspiration for these soups arose in my grandmother’s kitchen when I was a little boy in Southern India," says chef Hari Nayak. “I knew food and everything about it was what made me happy, and sipping a good soup was the very soul of comfort and health.”
Each batch is ladled into 24-ounce recyclable clear containers and sold in the fresh foods or deli sections of gourmet markets and grocery stores. The soups are also available in bulk for foodservice outlets.
