"That's the Mulligatawny"

Question

In Orwell's A Clergyman's Daughter, Dorothy ends up travelling with a bunch of other homeless youths, one of whom is a cockney called Nobby.
He uses the word "Mulligatawny" as a slang word, but I've never heard it used this way anywhere else:
After Dorothy hands over her last coin:

'That's the mulligatawny!' he said. 'We've struck it lucky--and so've you, kid.

After she tells him her name:

'Ellen. That's the mulligatawny. No surnames when you're on the bum.'

When he's describing about going to pick hops to make some money:

‘Pickin’ ’ops—dahn in Kent! C’n understand that, can’t yer?’
‘Oh, hops! For beer?’
'That's the mulligatawny! Coming on fine, she is. Well, kid, 'z I
was saying, here's us three going down hopping, and got a job
promised us and all--Blessington's farm, Lower Molesworth. Only
we're just a bit in the mulligatawny, see? Because we ain't got a
brown between us, and we got to do it on the toby--thirty-five
miles it is--and got to tap for our tommy and skipper at night as
well. And that's a bit of a mulligatawny, with ladies in the
party.'

From the above, he seems to be using the word in a couple of different ways — to express that he finds something agreeable (similar to "now that's what I'm talking about" or "that's the ticket"), or to confirm that Dorothy is understanding him correctly ("Now you're getting it"), but finally he seems to use the word to mean 'a tricky situation' or 'in a pickle'.
Does this usage have an origin outside the book?

Mari-Lou A · Answer

True Cockney is made up of two or three words, the last word has to rhyme with its English equivalent, however very often only the first word is said leaving the reader/listener pretty much in a muddle. Examples of Cockney rhyme are the following:

apples and pears = stairs, a Cockney might say: She's up the apples.
Boat Race = Face.  Nice legs, shame about her boat.

sources for  chicken soup and here. And for Irish stew.

In the case of mulligatawny the modern day meaning is the one listed below but the term mulligatawny as used by Nobby had a different meaning, far more innocent and one that fits in with the story. Mulligatawny is an Indian spicy chicken (or beef) soup, so the unclipped version could be Mulligatawny (chicken) soup, and chicken soup is often said to be good for you and hence it implies everything's fine/OK, or it might be short for Mulligatawny stew, which rhymes with true. So That's the mulligatawny could be Cockney for saying "that's the truth".

From Swearing  A Social History of Foul Language  Oaths and Profanity in English   Geoffrey Hughes, The term, mulligatawny is modern cockney slang for horny.

Greybeard · Answer

In the examples, "mulligatawny" is being used to mean "the rule; the custom" or, in military terms "the drill"
The OED is helpful in deriving the probably origin:

mulligatawny, n. 1. A spicy soup originating in India. More fully mulligatawny soup
†2. Indian English colloquial. A European official serving in the former Madras Presidency in southern India. Obsolete.
1816   ‘Quiz’ Grand Master vi. 145   A well-known Mul. popp'd out his head. Note, An abbreviation for Mulkatany, a common appellation for Madras officers.

During the 19th century and the days of the Raj in India, many Indian words and expressions entered English, either through trade or the military. Of these, a good number survived in informal speech, especially those from the military.
It appears that mulligatawny has transferred its meaning to an aspect of the military officer - a form of synecdoche or metonomy: giving orders/stating rules/being an authority, and thus being the rules, order, drill.

"That's the Mulligatawny"

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