My coronation chicken with mango and avocado
Coronation chicken is the sort of British dish that makes the French laugh (it is, after all, a mixture of meat and fruit, something they find rather alien), but it is one of my favourite things. Usually it looks rather unappetizing, though: you get a pile of mayo-smothered chicken served alongside shreds of iceberg lettuce, all of it scattered with some sad-looking pale almond flakes. I wanted to take Coronation chicken to new heights, to make it into a respectable salad. This is what I came up with. It makes a lovely summer lunch.
Ingrediënten
FOR THE SALAD
- salt and pepper
- 1 kg 2lb 4oz skinless boneless chicken breasts, or mini fillets
- 2 tbsp olive oil plus 2 tbsp more to dress the salad
- 2 just-ripe mangoes
- 2 ripe avocados
- juice of 2 limes
- 75 g 2¾oz watercress or baby spinach leaves
- 1 red chilli halved, deseeded and shredded
- 15 g ½oz toasted flaked almonds
FOR THE DRESSING
- 3 tsp curry powder or to taste
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 350 g 12oz mayonnaise
- 125 g 4½oz Greek yogurt
- 7 tbsp mango chutney chopped if it is chunky
- a little milk
- chilli sauce to taste (optional)
- leaves from 7 sprigs of mint torn
Instructies
- Season the chicken and heat the 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying or sauté pan.
- Sauté it until golden all over, then throw in about 50ml (2fl oz) of water, cover and let the chicken cook.
- How long this takes depends on whether you are using breasts or mini fillets; cut one through the middle to check, it should have no trace of pink.
- Leave to cool completely.
- Using a fine bladed, really sharp knife, cut into neat slices.
- Season all over.
- Gently mix all the ingredients for the dressing together except the chilli sauce and mint.
- It should be about the thickness of double cream (though a bit chunky as it has bits of chutney in it).
- Taste for seasoning and heat and add chilli sauce (if using).
- Stir in the mint.
- Peel the mangoes and cut the ‘cheeks’ off each side (the bits lying right next to the stones), cutting really close to the stone so you remove the plumpest bit of the mango you can.
- Cut them into neat slices, about the thickness of a pound coin.
- (You can remove the rest of the flesh, of course, but it is difficult to cut into neat slices.
- Best remove it and keep it for something else.
- )
- Halve the avocados, remove the stones and cut the flesh into slices.
- Carefully peel the skin from each slice.
- Spoon some lime juice over them to keep them from discolouring.
- Season.
- Gently toss the salad leaves with the sliced mango and avocado, the chilli, the remaining lime juice and 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper (this just gives the salad a nice gloss).
- Put the salad on a big platter or a broad shallow bowl and add the chicken.
- Drizzle some of the dressing over and scatter the almonds on top.
- Serve the rest of the dressing in a jug.
- I really like a bowlful of wild and brown rice with this, either warm, or dressed with vinaigrette and left to get to room temperature.
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