Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Coronation Chicken Sandwiches

 This comes from a comment in our team meeting this morning. My colleague said that vegetables shouldn't be a part of desserts and fruits, with the exceptions of tomatoes and avocadoes, should not be a part of savouries. 

Which I completely disagreed with. 

See, one of my favourite ice creams I've ever tasted is wasabi and white chocolate. It's subtle, not over the top, and the wasabi gives the ice cream a kick, just as chilli gives chocolate ice cream a kick. I found a recipe for pistachio, white chocolate and wasabi ice cream. Looks a bit convoluted. 

Then, I said, think about all the savoury dishes which have a hint of fruit in it. Your salads with grapes and cranberries in them. Think of prunes wrapped in bacon and toasted. Think of the eponymous apricot chicken - which everybody's mother made in the seventies. It appears you could do anything with a tin of apricots and a packet of French Onion soup back then. Oh, and then there's Peshwari or Kashmiri Naan - Indian bread stuffed with nuts and currants. It's bliss

But my absolute favourite fruity savoury  which I have been thinking about all day, is the Coronation Chicken Sandwich - something that nobody has heard of over here. While in London, these were a staple, obtained from the chain Pret a Manger. Not that it's on the menu any more, like their wonderful prawn sandwiches (another thing the Brits to well), Coronation Chicken Sandwiches were the bomb. 

According to SBS.com. Coronation Chicken was "created in honour of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, this sandwich consists of only three basic elements – cooked chicken, curry powder and a creamy sauce."

Australians have not heard of this remarkable dish. Cold, shredded barbeque chicken, mixed in a curry mayonaise - using the curry powder your mum used when you were a kid - the yellow Keen's Curry Powder. In the sauce, there's also some currents, a smattering of toasted almonds, some mango chutney, a bit of salad, all spread on grainy bread. 

It's awesome stuff. 

Why, like prawn sandwiches, don't we have this ambrosial mix here. Or is this just a Pom thing?

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking about today. Coronation Chicken Sandwiches. 

Seeing it's my designated vegetarian day, it all seems a bit ironic. 

Today's song:

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