Almond curry chicken sandwich filling

To me, the sandwich is the perfect food. A sandwich made with thought and care, with a great flavorful bread and an interesting filling full of contrasting textures is as delicious to me as the finest five star meal.

This sounds like a bit of a strange combination for a sandwich filling, but it’s outstanding. It makes a great leftover roast chicken meal, although it’s definitely good enough to warrant making the chicken just for these sandwiches.

This is great on a toasted sesame seed bagel, although any white bread with some character will also make for a great sandwich. The filling is a little bit sweet, so it compliments a white sourdough and is also great on a toasted multigrain.

Almond curry chicken sandwich

2 cups cooked chicken (a leftover roast chicken is perfect as it will provide a great mix of white and dark meat)

3 Tbls finely chopped onion

¼ cupped chopped almonds (if they are blanched almonds, toast them either in a dry fry pan, or in the microwave. Nuke on high for about 30 seconds, give them a shake, and keep repeating the process until they are nicely browned. DO NOT eat any of these nuts straight out the microwave as they are volcanic at this point!

¾ tsp curry powder

About four good heaping spoonfuls of mayo

Salt freshly cracked pepper and sugar to taste

Chop your chicken up into little pieces (like the size of an almond actually) and chop up your almonds as well. Mix together all the ingredients and taste for salt and pepper.

You’ll probably need a couple of good pinches of salt but it depends a bit on how you prepared the chicken and whether the almonds were salted. The sandwich filling should have a hint of sweetness to it. Some mayo’s will be sweetened enough already, but if you don’t taste a hint of sweet, add about a tsp of sugar, and stir it up well so it dissolves.

The filling cries out for well toasted buttered bread, thinly sliced onion and some good crisp romaine or leaf lettuce.

Serve with a good mixed salad in simple vinaigrette and you’ve got a delicious 5 minute lunch or light supper. This makes a great change of pace after a roast chicken meal.

This, like any sandwich, is only as good as the bread used to make it. If you are lucky enough to have a local baker producing quality, interesting flavorful loaves, it's worth the extra dollar or two to support that person. They work hard to make an artisanal bread that is apples to oranges better then the usual bland supermarket offering.