Coronation Eggs

I've been in Swansea this weekend for Dave and Julia's wedding. The plan was to get the bus to Rhosilli today, but tired and with a slightly sore head I didn't feel like sightseeing and got the train home instead. The last thing I wanted to do when I arrived back in London was go to Sainsbury's so I slumped on the sofa, watched Villa v Chelsea and searched the store cupboard. This is what I came up with...

Coronation Eggs (Serves 2)

4 eggs
5 tbsp light mayonnaise
5 tbsp natural yoghurt
2 tbsp mango chutney
1 tbsp garam masala paste
salt
125g basmati rice
A pinch of saffron
4 cardamom pods
1 cinammon stick
2 whole cloves
Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
Salad leaves

1) First you need to make the rice because it needs to cool. Rinse the rice, then add the saffron, cinnamon stick and cloves to the water, being to the boil, turn the heat down to the lowset setting, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain if necessary and leave to cool in a bowl.
2) When the rice is cool, put the eggs onto boil for ten minutes. Now cover the eggs with cold water, peel the shells off and cut each egg in half lengthways.
3) While the eggs are boiling you can make the coronation-style sauce. Mix together the yoghurt, mayonnaise, mango chutney and curry paste in a bowl. Season with a little salt.
4) Fluff the cooled rice up with a fork and add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Then make a quick salad dressing with another couple of tablepsoons of olive oil. Give each person two eggs a handful of salad leaves, a couple of large dollops of sauce and half the rice.

Obviously this is usually made with chicken but I love an egg curry and really the coronation sauce is just a spicy mayonnaise so it works well. Although Coronation Chicken is a bit naff it looks quite pretty. I nearly ruined it by putting sultanas in the rice but eventually decided that was only one step away from frying slices of banana in curry powder. Of course the original dish was created for the Queen's coronation in 1953 and I ate this while watching the film The Queen which was on TV this evening. My Dad would call that ironical.