Coronation chicken

Coronation Chicken

It being the Queen's diamond jubilee this year, I decided to make Coronation Chicken. This was a dish especially created for the Queen's coronation 60 years ago. It is thought that the dish was also inspired by Jubilee chicken – a dish that was done for the Silver Jubilee of George the 5th.

Of course, I took a number of liberties with the ingredients. But it turned out quite well – although I think it would normally be a deeper yellow colour. I should have added a bit of turmeric to it.

My ingredients for Coronation Chicken:

Diced cooked chicken (leftover roast chicken in my case, although you could specially poach some breast for it

A small onion, finely diced

Curry paste or powder to taste (not Thai curry – Indian)

A little squirt of tomato puree

A tablespoon full of red wine – I used pinot noir

A small amount of chicken stock – be careful to add this toward the end so that the sauce doesn't get too liquidy.  (And watch out for the salt content in stock and adjust the addition of extra salt, if any, to allow for it)

1 bay leaf (fish it out before serving)

Salt and pepper – I think white pepper is best for this

Juice of up to ½ a lemon

Mayonnaise – as much or as little as you want – I didn't want too sloppy a sauce

2 to 3 spoonfuls of apricot jam or rehydrated chopped dried apricots

Spoonful of whipped cream, or in my case crème fraiche (not whipped)

A couple of spoonfuls of toasted almonds – if you are toasting them yourself, like I did, watch them like a hawk - I burnt the first lot.

½ teaspoon of hot chilli jam (definitely not authentic but a great ingredient to give things a bit of a kick)

Mix all this together and let it sit covered in the fridge for a few hours for the flavours to meld.  You could eat it straight away but it will improve if you give it a bit of sitting time. 

Serve as a lunch dish or you can even put it into sandwiches.

For another recipe, click here