My Coronation Chicken

I've been told that Coronation Chicken is a bit of an old-fashioned dish. A blast from the past.

So if you do talk to me about Coronation Chicken, I immediately imagine myself sitting at an old wooden table, taking part in a street party during the 70s, wearing flared trousers, a flower power shirt and surrounded by kids with page boy haircuts running around.

Although I only discovered it a couple of years ago, it has a very specific place in the image I have of my parents lives when they were my age. (Even though my parents never ate Coronation Chicken and aren't British, they did wear flared trousers).

Invented 60 years ago for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, coronation chicken belongs to one of these Indian inspired, traditional British dishes, created to represent the British Empire. A big hit at its creation, it still is one of Britain's all time favourite picnic dishes and sandwich fillings.

In my quest to discover and experience traditional British cuisine, I couldn't not give it a try!

Coronation Chicken

As I never do as I'm told, I surfed the web for days to look at all the recipes I could find and picked things I liked here and there to create my own take on this recipe.
It's a light version of the recipe, as I used half of yogurt and half mayonnaise.

Ingredients:

1/2 chicken, cooked and shredded ( I used the leftovers of a cold roast chicken)

a good pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 cm piece of fresh ginger, very finely chopped
1 good drizzle of lemon or lime juice
2 heaped tbsp mango chutney

a small handful of ready-to-eat dried apricots, finely chopped

1 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp of mayonnaise
3 tbsp. Greek yogurt
1/2 handful of flaked or roughly chopped almonds, toasted
Green salad (I used baby gem lettuce) or bread to serve


Prepare the Coronation Chicken:

1/ In a small dry pan, toast the curry powder for a few minutes, until golden (it will prevent it from bringing a harsh taste to the dish). Pour the powder in a small bowl and leave aside.

2/ In the pan again, toast the almonds dry until golden brown. Leave aside.

3/ In a medium bowl, mix the mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, curry powder, mango chutney, lemon or lime juice, salt, pepper and mix well.

4/ Add the apricots and shredded chicken, mix well. Just before serving add some flaked almonds.

5/ To serve : I served the coronation chicken in baby gem lettuce leaves that I used as wraps, sprinkling some toasted almonds on top of each wrap just before serving.