Chicken Indianne - An Heirloom Recipe Series
Creamy Spiced Chicken with Mango - Extra Food Chat with Kath
Welcome to another edition of Extra Food Chat with Kath!
It’s been a difficult start to the year over here. As I mentioned in my last paid newsletter (which includes my favourite banana loaf recipe!), I was sick for a bit then this week we were visiting one of our relatives in the Blue Mountains as their 99 years on this earth came to an end. We attended their funeral on Friday, which is why Friday Food Chat with Kath was missing from your inboxes this week.
I might write more about it all in a future edition of this paid newsletter, however I hope you all enjoy this edition of Extra Food Chat with Kath which I am sending in full to everyone, including the full recipe.
The recipe I am sharing is a chicken dish known as Chicken Indianne. I think it is one of those Anglicised versions of Indian food, or rather an interpretation of Indian food, that probably doesn’t have a great deal of authenticity at all.
This recipe is one that has been shared amongst my family for a few decades now. It’s something that appeared at many family gatherings, especially Christenings and the like. The recipe was written out my one of my Great Aunt’s, who introduced the family to it. I have no idea how she came across the recipe, but it was photocopied for many since it was such a hit. Since I don’t know the provenance of the recipe beyond that, I can only guess at the reason for the recipes name.
This dish would probably be better known as Creamy Spiced Chicken with Mango, since that would actually provide more clues as to what flavours and textures you can anticipate from the recipe!
This recipe is fairly flexible, and a few changes have been made over the years. As my Great Aunt’s recipe says, she usually used tinned apricots and apricot chutney, whereas in our household my Mum has been making this dish for years and always uses fresh mango and mango chutney - which is my favourite way of eating this dish, so that is the version I am sharing with you here.
The key to the flavour of this dish is the onion and the curry powder, the heat of the curry powder is tamed by the use of cream and mayonnaise. It’s tasty without being overpowering, and the sweetness of the chutney and mango work well with the other flavours as well. The orange colour of the dish comes from a combination of the curry powder and tomato paste.
This chicken dish is one of those things that works well served amongst a spread of other things, especially as it is best served cold or at room temperature. We often have this as one of the dishes at Christmas lunch along with glazed ham, prawns, salads and bread. I have added notes to the recipe about how many this serves, how to increase the quantities and some other serving suggestions.
Baking Beyond the Paywall: There is no paywall today, the edited and tested recipe for this Creamy Spiced Chicken with Mango is below for all.
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Chicken Indianne - Creamy Spiced Chicken with Mango
This recipe makes double the sauce you need for the chicken. If you are serving many, or want a larger platter of chicken to serve amongst other dishes, double the chicken and use all the sauce, and you might want two mangoes to serve rather than one.
Even if we aren’t serving lots of people, we always make the same amount of sauce as the recipe, as what is not used now will freeze well for another time.
Ingredients For the Chicken:
X 2 large chicken breasts (approx. 620g in total)
500 ml chicken stock
125ml white wine
X 2 bay leaves
Salt
Whole black peppercorns
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Place chicken breasts in a baking dish and cover with the chicken stock and white wine. Add the bay leaves, season with salt and a few whole black peppercorns. If the chicken isn’t almost completely covered by the liquid, top up with some water.
Cover with foil and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove from oven, take off the foil, and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Then remove the chicken from the liquid (discarding the liquid and bay leaves), and shred the chicken using two forks.
Place shredded chicken in a bowl or container and set aside - place in covered in the fridge if you have made the chicken in advance.
Ingredients for the Sauce and Assembly:
3 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 heaped tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp tomato paste
Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
X 3 slices lemon
3 tbsp mango chutney
300ml pouring cream
X 1 440g jar whole egg mayonnaise
X 1 mango
Cashews or slivered almonds, to serve
Parsley leaves, chopped, to serve (optional)
Method:
Heat oil in a large pan, then add the onion and garlic. Cook on low/medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent (around 10-15 minutes).
Add curry powder and stir to coat the onions, cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add the tomato paste, lemon slices and stir to mix through. Then season with salt and pepper and cook gently for 2-3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Remove the lemon slices, then stir through the mango chutney.
Transfer the onion mix to a blender, and add the cream and mayonnaise. Blend the mixture until smooth and there are no chunks of onion or chutney.
You should have about 4 cups of sauce now, place two cups of the sauce in the fridge or freezer for another time (the sauce freezes well if you want to have some ready for another time), and add the remaining two cups to the chicken you shredded earlier. Mix the chicken and sauce in a bowl until the chicken is well coated in the sauce.
To serve, spread chicken onto a serving platter. Cut the mango into slices, and arrange around the edge of the chicken. Top with either cashews or slivered almonds (lightly toasted if you prefer). You can also sprinkle a little roughly chopped parsley to give the dish a bit of contrast from all the orange colour!
This dish should be served cold, or room temperature. Serves 3-4 as a main, or more if you are serving amongst a few other things.
Other serving options:
As my Great Aunt says in the original recipe, she often served with tinned apricots rather than mango. Mango was a change my Mum made to the recipe, as she always uses mango chutney in the sauce, we also mostly eat this in Summer so we are usually eating this while mangoes are in season.
Sometimes my Great Aunt served this dish in individual iceberg lettuce cups, and sometimes it has been served with avocado rather than mango or tinned apricot.
Sometimes my Mum serves it with basmati rice to make it a more full meal, when serving this dish on it’s own.
I’ve also only said to use cashews or almonds to serve as I can’t eat cashews so almonds are a nice alternative. You can serve without any nuts if you like.
Thank you so much again for your support and patience, if you have any questions, comments or just want to say hi you can find me via return email or in the comments of this post.
I hope you are well and having a lovely weekend, see you again on Friday.
