Coronation Chicken With Mango Chutney

Since this is a very English dish, you might ask how a native New Yorker living in Jerusalem would know of it. Blame it on my friend Paulette (hello out there xxx) who served it to us years ago in London.

I won’t go into the whole where it got it’s name (briefest version, in honor of a coronation of a monarch but you can Google it).

It’s a refreshing lighter version of a chicken dish, especially nice for the summer months but good all year long. I won’t lie, there are those who make this with leftover chicken and slap some mayo and curry on it and say, done. Not what you’re getting here. This is a poached chicken (I had a ton of sliced raw shnitzel) and found lurking in my freezer some mango pieces and said, hmmm.

After reading and researching and not finding exactly what I wanted, I made my own version and ya gotta make my mango chutney, not just as a go with but also, you mix it into the mayonnaise and without it, it’s sorely lacking. Update, for my cousin Yehudit, whose hubby cannot eat mango, you can swap out the mango for fresh or frozen peaches. It’s also delicious!

This isn’t hard, so let’s get rolling. First, I do recommend white meat of chicken since it’s a lighter dish that way and I promise it won’t dry out on you if you follow instructions.

First we’ll start with the chutney since it actually cooks for longer than the chicken. I used my frozen mango but if you have fresh, even better. Prepare two cups of mango which is approximately 3 large mangoes and chunk ’em. The frozen comes chunked.

Now many of the chutney recipes want you to use golden raisins but since they’ve never darkened my door, I only have regular raisins. So, I threw in two tablespoons worth and I’m glad I did, it adds another dimension of flavor.

But I digress, first take your chopped onion and sautee lightly in oil (or use your basic prepared onions https://kosherfromjerusalem.com/2019/12/17/basic-sauteed-onions-a-kitchen-staple/ ) and organize your spices since you will briefly cook them in the onion and oil to release their flavor. In the hot oil (I make sure the spices are in with the onion so they don’t burn and do this quickly, no burning your spices!) and onion add the mustard seed, turmeric, ginger (had grated frozen), garlic, chili and cloves and sautee after onion has turned medium yellow and cook about a minute.

Immediately add the ginger (crystallized), brown sugar, raisins, mango, red pepper, vinegar and water. In essence, all the rest of the chutney ingredients.

Cover with a lid on a tilt and cook on low heat about 30 minutes or till you see the chutney thickening, a bit jammy. This is not a crazy sweet chutney rather beautifully spiced (not “hot”) with a hint of sweet and tang. The mango itself is sweet but it’s a condiment, not a jam. While this is cooking (and yes, time it) start the poaching liquid.

This is simply white wine, lemon juice, parsley, thyme, salt and bay leaf in a wide pan with high enough sides to contain the chicken (1/2 a kilo, about a pound of chicken breast). Just plunk it all into the pan and add water enough to (soon, not yet) cover the chicken like so.

Bring to a nice boil and here’s the trick to poaching. You put the chicken in carefully, watch till the water is just coming back to the boil (not more than 5 minutes!!!!) and then cover your chicken pot with a lid (or tightly with tin foil) and TURN OFF THE FIRE. Leave on the burner, DO NOT PEEK!!!! and let sit for another 10-15 minutes depending on how thick the chicken breasts are. Since my breast meat was sliced fairly thin (shnitzel style) after 5 minutes, I covered the pan and turned off the fire and let sit in the poaching liquid for 10 minutes. I peeked and voila, all done.

This is incredibly tender and luscious so please don’t overcook it. If you have thicker (not shnitzelized) breast meat, then it may need to poach for 15 minutes rather than 10 or the middle part will not be fully done.

Trust me, after the 15 minutes for thicker chicken, your chicken is fully cooked, do not cook longer. The reason white meat of chicken gets a bad rap is it tends to dry out, so really, don’t overcook it.

Immediately remove the lid and carefully pour out the stock (or save for a soup base if you like) and let chicken cool on a cutting board. Cut into nice big chunks when cooled.

Place in a bowl, add the mayo, curry powder and 3 heaping tablespoons of the mango chutney and toss well together till chicken is fully coated.

See all the lovely bits in the dressing? Heavenly.

A wallop of flavor in every bite!!

Coronation Chicken With Mango Chutney

Mango Chutney

3 tablespoons chopped sautéed onions OR 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger
1 small chopped peeled clove garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground chili
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups frozen mango, defrosted
2 tablespoons raisins
1/3 cup chopped red pepper
3 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup water

Directions:

Sautee the onion in the oil in a pot (with a lid, you will cover soon) till dark yellow and immediately add all the spices: gingers, garlic, mustard seed, turmeric, chili, cloves and cook on low for a minute to release the spice’s fragrances and add the mango, raisins, red pepper, vinegar, salt, sugar and water. Cover pot with a lid and tilt, cooking on low heat for about 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.

While the chutney is simmering on low, prepare the chicken.

Coronation Chicken

2 tablespoons white wine
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons parsley
1 pound (1/2 kilo) chicken breast sliced thin OR if thicker, you will increase cooking time by about 5 minutes- that’s ALL
Dressing:
1/3-1/2 cup real mayonnaise
1 heaping teaspoon curry powder
3 heaping tablespoons mango chutney

Take a wide pot big enough to comfortably hold the chicken and put the white wine, lemon juice, salt, bay leaf, thyme, parsley and bring to a boil.

Once the poaching liquid is boiling, gently slide the pieces of chicken into the liquid one after the other fairly quickly.The liquid will take a little while to come to the boil but no longer than five minutes and then cover the chicken and turn off the flame (yes yes, really)leaving it on the burner.If your chicken is sliced as thin as mine was you do not need to keep that chicken submerged in the liquid for more than 10 minutes. If it is sliced thicker than you may need as much as 15 minutes of poaching/leaving submerged – or 5 additional minutes to my 10 minutes.

As soon as your timer goes off either 10 or 15 minutes, immediately pour out the poaching liquid (you can save for soup base or discard, as you will) and remove the chicken and place it on a cutting board to fully cool.

It is critical to remove the chicken from the liquid or you will over cook the chicken and the whole beauty of this lightly poached dish will fail.After your chicken is cooled, cut into chunks and take the mango chutney which should be fully cold and the mayonnaise and the curry powder.

Spoon three heaping tablespoons of mango chutney on top of the cold chicken. Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of mayonnaise and shake the curry powder over the whole mixture. Lightly toss the chicken chunks together with the mayonnaise and curry powder and the mango chutney until completely combined and totally coated.

Serve either as an appetizer or a main course with a serving of mango chutney on the side.