Opening the fridge on boxing day and wondering what on earth to do with all that leftover turkey is as much of a Christmas tradition as the big dinner itself! It is one of the best parts of Christmas where you spend the next few days simply enjoying leftovers and fridge raids. It makes the effort of cooking the big meal on Christmas day last for a few extra days with mininal stress. For me, Christmas is all about the leftovers and there isn’t a more perfect time for us to have a fridge full of food ready to go. Many homes are still packed with family members visiting or we are busy traveling visiting people, it is still a time for celebration yet it can be exhausting. One of my favourite dinners is on Boxing Day where we use up all the leftover vegetables to make bubble and squeak and serve it with all the leftover turkey and ham, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, pickled onions and gherkins and whatever else we can find to chuck it all together.
This Leftover Coronation Turkey recipe seems to be another retro classic. What with my recent Prawn Cocktail blog, anyone would think that I am going through some form of post war – 1970s british nostaliga. Coronation Chicken was a dish put together for the Queen’s Coronation in the 1950s. It included mango, sultanas and curry powder and mixed with mayonnaise to create a creamy dish that was likely created to find a compromise between something luxurious and also thrifty for a country still facing post war rationing. But in my opinion this is exactly the time of the year to take on all those classics and spice them up a bit. Christmas isn’t always a time for experimenting too much because instead we actually want those home comforts and dishes that we have always associated with tradition. We would be disappointed if we made anything too different and it just didn’t taste the same.
Coronation Turkey is a great one to store in the fridge ready for a quick lunch with a salad, in a sandwich or as a light dinner with a jacket potato. You can also serve it as one of the many side dishes for your Boxing Day dinner to add a bit of heat and spice. I use both crème fraîche and greek yoghurt instead of mayonnaise. Some use mango chutney but I like to use fresh chopped mango. I also pefer to use turmeric and cumin rather than standard curry powder, but this also works really well. And I make sure to garnish it with plenty of fresh coriander. I then dollop a big spoonful onto a piece of lettuce and wrap it up for a light and delicious lunch.
This recipe uses cooked leftover turkey but you can easily make this with leftover chicken or quickly fry up some diced chicken breasts before leaving to cool for 10/15 mins and then adding to the recipe below.
- 70g crème fraîche
- 5 tbpsn greek yogurt
- 1 mango (peeled, halved, stone removed, diced)
- 2 tspn ground turmeric
- 1 tspn ground cumin
- 1 red chilli (finely sliced)
- Small bunch fresh coriander (finely chopped)
- Juice of half a lemon
- 70g sultanas
- 2 tspn worcestershire sauce
- Salt and Pepper
- Cos or romaine lettuce to serve
- Leftover cooked turkey (skin and bones removed)
- Apart from the lettuce, add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix well until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve with the lettuce wraps.
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