This is my tandoori chicken melt with mango habanero chutney, pickled red onion, and a cool mint yogurt.
Sweet Heat Tandoori Chicken Melt with Mango Habanero Chutney
Ingredients
Method
- Make the chutney: combine the mango, diced white onion, ginger, garlic, honey, habanero, mustard seeds, cumin, salt, turmeric and white vinegar, and let it simmer gently until the mango softens and breaks down. Finish it with the juice of half a lime once it’s cooked.
- Make a quick pickle with the red onion, white vinegar and a spoon of sugar – not for storing, just for fresh acidity on the sandwich.
- Make the mint yoghurt: mix the Greek yoghurt, chopped mint and coriander, grated garlic, a pinch of ginger, sugar and black pepper, then finish with the juice of half a lime.
- Quarter the red pepper and grill it skin side up until it blisters.
- Marinate the chicken in Greek yoghurt and tandoori masala for at least 2 hours, up to 6 for best results.
- Sear the chicken hard in a hot pan, then finish it in the oven.
- Build the sandwich: mango chutney first, a couple of slices of mozzarella, tandoori chicken, pickled red onion, more mozzarella, red pepper, mint yoghurt, fresh coriander leaves, more mozzarella and freshly sliced green chilli.
- Toast it in a panini press or in a pan on a very low heat, making sure the cheese has time to melt before the bread gets too dark.
Notes
Mango Habanero Chutney
First is the chutney. I’m using:
- one mango
- one finely diced white onion
- a large tablespoon of ginger and garlic cloves, both minced
- a little honey
- a habanero
- a good pinch of mustard seeds, cumin, salt and turmeric
- and finally about 60 milliliters of white vinegar
Let that simmer gently until the mango softens and breaks down. If the mango is slightly underripe, that’s actually fine. It keeps a little of the sharpness. Finish it with the juice of half a lime once it’s cooked.
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Onions and Mint Yogurt
For the onions, this is just a quick pickle, nice and simple. Red onion, white vinegar, and a spoon of sugar. It’s not for storing, just for adding a fresh acidity to the sandwich.
The yogurt is the cooling part. About 80 grams of Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon of chopped mint and coriander, 1 garlic clove grated, a pinch of ginger, sugar, and black pepper, and finish with the juice of half a lime. You can add a little turmeric as well if you want that yellow tandoori-style color.
Tandoori Chicken
The red pepper is just quartered and grilled skin side up until it blisters. For the chicken, I kept it simple. Greek yogurt and tandoori masala, about 2 tablespoons into about 60g, just enough to cover the chicken.
Building the Sandwich
Before the build, we went:
- mango chutney first
- couple of slices of mozzarella
- tandoori chicken, the more the better, really
- pickled red, you want quite a bit for the extra acidity
- more mozzarella, red pepper, mint yogurt, fresh coriander leaves
- Finally, more mozzarella and some freshly sliced green chili
Toast it in a panini press or alternatively in a pan on a very low heat, making sure the cheese has time to melt before the bread gets too dark.
And I think this one really works. Sweet heat from the chutney, smoky spiced chicken, sharp onions, cool yogurt, and loads of melted cheese. And don’t forget to dip.
