Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small frying pan for toasting spices
• •Mixing bowl
• •Bread knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the curry powder

   Tip the curry powder into a small, dry pan and set it over a medium heat. Stir it for thirty seconds or so, until the kitchen smells warmer, rounder, almost toasty. The colour will darken half a shade. Take the pan off the heat immediately. Burnt spice is bitter and there's no rescuing it. Scrape the toasted powder into a mixing bowl and let it cool for a minute.

   Trust your nose here. When the curry powder goes from dusty and sharp to warm and fragrant, it's done. That shift is unmistakable once you've noticed it.
2. 2

   Make the dressing

   Add the mayonnaise, yoghurt, mango chutney, and lemon juice to the bowl with the toasted curry powder. Stir until everything comes together into a smooth, golden dressing. Taste it. The balance should be gently warm from the spice, a little sweet from the chutney, and bright enough from the lemon to keep everything alive. If it needs more of anything, add it now. Season with salt. The yoghurt lightens things, stops the mayonnaise from feeling heavy. If you haven't got yoghurt, use all mayonnaise. It'll be richer but still good.

   A recipe is a conversation, not a contract. The quantities here are starting points. Some curry powders are hotter than others, some chutneys sweeter. Taste and adjust until it's right for you.
3. 3

   Dress the chicken

   Tear or shred the cold chicken into generous, irregular pieces. Not too small. You want to bite into proper pieces of chicken, not a paste. Fold the chicken through the dressing along with the sultanas, turning everything gently until each piece is coated and the sultanas are distributed throughout. Let it sit for ten minutes if you can spare them. The flavours settle and the sultanas begin to soften into the dressing.

4. 4

   Build the sandwich

   Butter both slices of bread. Good butter, applied with generosity, not scraped on as an afterthought. Pile the coronation chicken onto one slice, more than you think looks reasonable. Tuck in a few watercress leaves for a peppery bite. Scatter over some toasted flaked almonds if you've got them. They add a quiet crunch that earns its place. Close the sandwich, press it gently, and cut it however you like. Serve with a cup of tea and somewhere comfortable to sit. That's all it needs.

Chef Tips

• •The chicken matters more than anything else here. Meat from a properly roasted bird, one that had a decent life and was cooked with care, will carry the whole sandwich. If you're starting from scratch rather than using leftovers, poach a couple of chicken breasts in stock with a bay leaf and some peppercorns. Let them cool in the liquid. But a good leftover roast chicken is honestly better.
• •Toast the curry powder. I can't stress this enough. Raw curry powder tastes flat and slightly dusty. Thirty seconds in a dry pan and it opens up entirely, turning warm and fragrant and almost sweet. It's the difference between a sandwich that tastes like the ones from the supermarket shelf and one that makes you stop chewing for a second to pay attention.
• •Choose bread with the structure to hold the filling without collapsing. A good sourdough or a thick-cut bloomer. Nothing too soft, nothing too worthy. This is a sandwich, not a health food. Butter both slices properly. The butter isn't optional.

Advance Preparation

• •The dressed chicken filling keeps well in the fridge for up to two days, covered. It actually improves after a few hours as the flavours have time to settle into each other. Make a batch on Sunday and eat sandwiches all week.
• •Don't assemble the sandwiches until you're ready to eat them. The bread goes soft if it sits too long. The filling waits patiently. The bread does not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 210g)