This classic chicken salad recipe tastes even better if you make your own mayonnaise.
Ingredients
- 1.6 kg (large) free-range chicken
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 8 black peppercorns
- 2 onions, 1 halved, 1 roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1½-2 tbsp medium curry powder
- 1 tsp tomato purée
- 4 tbsp red wine
- 2 tbsp sweet mango chutney
- Good squeeze of lemon juice
- 150ml classic mayonnaise
- 75g Greek yogurt
- 60g raisins
- Handful toasted flaked almonds
- Bunch of watercress, to serve
- Crusty bread or basmati rice, to serve
Method
- 1. Place the chicken in a large pan with the bay leaves, peppercorns and halved onion, and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Poach for 45 minutes until cooked through, then remove from the stock and cool. Discard the skin; shred the meat into large chunks.
- 2. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, soften the chopped onion in the olive oil over a low heat for 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium, stir through the curry powder and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato purée and cook for a minute more. Add the wine, chutney and lemon juice, then bubble for 2 minutes, stirring, until thickened to a paste. Remove to a bowl and leave to cool completely before blending in a small food processor. Push through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon and discard the solids.
- 3. In a large bowl, mix together the mayo and yogurt, then stir through 2 tbsp of the curried paste, or more if you like (discard the rest), season with salt and add a squeeze more lemon. Add the chicken and raisins, mixing well to coat. Spoon onto a plate and scatter over the almonds. Serve with watercress and crusty bread or rice.
Nutritional info
Per serving (based on 6): 507kcals, 29.6g fat (5g saturated), 45g protein, 14.4g carbs, 11.5g sugar, 0.8g salt