‘Street food’ fried chicken, raisin chutney and coronation sauce
Try Matt Tebbutt’s original take on coronation chicken – fried chicken made with curry powder, served with coronation sauce and tamarind and raisin chutney.
Ingredients
For the fried chicken
- 4 chicken thighs, skin removed, meat cut into strips
- 1 tsp curry powderÌý
- 1 tsp saltÌý
- 200ml/7fl oz yoghurt or buttermilkÌý
- 40²µ/1½´Ç³ú plain flour
- 40²µ/1½´Ç³ú cornflour
- 40²µ/1½´Ç³ú polenta
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the sauce
- 25g/1oz unsalted butter
- 2 shallots, thinly slicedÌý
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tsp mild curry powderÌý
- 1 tsp ground turmericÌý
- 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander stalksÌý
- 3 tbsp mango chutneyÌý
- 8 tbsp mayonnaiseÌý
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the tamarind and raisin chutney
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 onions, sliced or diced
- 1 tsp ground paprikaÌý
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 150g/5½oz plump raisins, soaked in hot water
- 4 tbsp tamarind pasteÌý
To garnish
- 1 tsp oil
- 12 curry leaves
- small handful chopped blanched almondsÌý
- 4 spring onions, slicedÌý
- 1 green chilli, sliced
- small handful micro coriander leaves (or the leaves leftover from the sauce)
Method
To make the fried chicken, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Combine the curry powderÌýand saltÌýtogether on a plate.
Scrape off any excess fat from the chicken skin and season the chicken with the curry-salt mixture. Sandwich the chicken between two greased baking trays and cook for around 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
To make the sauce, heat the butter in a pan over a low heat. Add the shallots, garlic and ginger and cook until softened. Stir in the curry powder, turmeric and coriander stalks. Remove from the heat and cool before stirring through the mango chutney and mayonnaise. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.
To make the tamarind and raisin chutney, heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, paprika and ground coriander. Cook until softened. Add the raisins and the tamarind paste. Bring to a simmer to bring all the flavours together before removing from the heat. Use a hand-blender (or tip the mixture into a blender) and blend to a smooth paste. Taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
To finish the chicken, heat a deep fat fryer to 180C. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
Mix the flour, cornflour and polenta together in a shallow dish and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the yoghurt or buttermilk in a shallow dish.
Remove the chicken from between the baking trays and then dip it in the yoghurt (or buttermilk) and then the seasoned flour mixture. Deep fry the chicken for a few minutes until golden-brown and cooked through. Carefully remove from the fryer and drain on kitchen paper.
To make the garnish, heat the oil in a pan and fry the curry leaves until crisp. Remove from the pan and drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Dry fry the almonds in a small frying pan until nicely browned.
To serve, spoon some of the raisin tamarind chutney onto a serving dish, serve a pile of the fried chicken on top with the sauce over and garnish with the spring onions, green chilli, fried curry leaves, toasted almonds and micro coriander leaves.