Curried Chicken Spread

Being a confessed Nutella lover it is still one of the few spreads I buy ready made. I prefer to make them myself. May it be jam, liver pâté, vegetable spread or in this case a curried spread with chicken. For the simple reason that I know what is in it.

You can make a spread or pâté in a lot of ways. The goal is to get a spreadable paste. To achieve this spreads are often combined with cream, cheese, butter, egg or mustard. Sometimes there is an emulsifier or gelling agent added.

A lot of the ready made spreads contain high amounts of oil or other fats as they give volume and are cheep. I prefer my spreads to low on fat and high on flavour. That is why I hardly use mayonnaise in them. I also find that making a spread is an easy way to use up small amounts of vegetables or meat you have in your fridge. As I result often I end up making them as fillings for sandwiches to take along on one of my road trips.

I find them also very practical as they are quick to make for a snack on a busy day. It takes hardly 10 minutes. Spread it on your favourite bread, top it with some crunchy lettuce and tomatoes and enjoy.

This recipe is inspired by the classic Coronation Chicken which is a curry flavoured chicken salad.

In a small pan I melt 40g butter over low heat, add 3 heaped teaspoons Madras Curry powder to it and temper the curry for a few minutes. Be careful that the heat is low otherwise the curry gets burned and looses all its flavour.

I take a blender or food processor and add the following ingredients into it. 2 hard boiled egg (peeled), 4-5 gherkins, 1 teaspoon mustard, 150-200g boiled chicken meat cut into pieces, pepper, chilli powder, 20g onion, 20g leek, 1 glove garlic, 30g yellow bell pepper, salt and the curry butter. Mix it all until you have a smooth paste. Check the taste and add up salt and pepper if required.

If you like it a bit sweeter you can add some pineapple or mango to it. If you like it softer add a spoon of yoghurt to it.

Some fresh baguette and a nice glass of white wine with it. Dinner was never cooked faster.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola