Inspired by Martha's Tea Room in Ocean Springs, MS, this is a grown-up, southern tea room style chicken salad, made with chicken, red onion, apples, grapes, and pecans and a secret ingredient of fruit chutney.
Chutney Chicken Salad
This is not your standard deli style chicken salad with creamy mayo, celery, and sometimes, chopped up eggs - though that's pretty darned good itself and I sure love it. No, this one is the kind that you get when you go to lunch with the ladies at 'Tea Room Restaurants' all across the country, and in fact, Martha's Tea Room, right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, was the inspiration behind this chicken salad recipe I wrote.
The only "secret" I could pull out of the now previous owner, Martha Reichard, was that it contained her mother's homemade mango chutney.
Many people have tried to duplicate this top secret chicken salad and as Reichard stated in a television interview, nobody has come close. Well, this isn't her recipe either of course, it's just my tea room style chicken salad, inspired by Martha's Tea Room.
Martha's, once located in the downtown area of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and now at 2113 Government Steet, right here on the Gulf Coast and at the time of this writing, operates Monday through Saturday, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
In addition to her top secret chicken salad and other sandwich makings, she serves on homemade bread she bakes every morning, she has other salads, gumbo, soup, quiche and delectable desserts like white chocolate bread pudding with a white chocolate sauce, caramel lover fudge cake and sweet potato cake, banana pudding, coconut cake with pineapple filling and chocolate banana pecan cream pie, amidst nearly 100 displayed tea pots many of which were heritage pieces from her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
There was talk of closing at one point, but in 2016 the Villers, another Ocean Springs family purchased the restaurant, kept the name and continued the recipes, along with some of her own, all homemade and even some gluten free.
This recipe is what I consider to be a chicken salad that is all grown up, made with red onion, and tart apples, pecans and grapes, a little mayo and the secret ingredient of mango chutney.
Chutney is like a form of savory jam - a fruit preserve with the addition of some savory elements - like onion, garlic and vinegar and are found in your grocery store on the shelf with the other fruit preserves and jellies.
I fell in love with the mango chutney from The Virginia Chutney Company. I usually order it along with several of their other products and the shipping is worth it since the product arrives quickly and is well packed, making it here safe and sound. They always include a personal note of thanks, a brochure giving you some other ideas for using their chutneys, and sometimes, a little lagniappe too!
Best served on a soft, freshly made croissant, like these beauties I buy from QVC!
A nice tender homemade white or wheat bread is also excellent, but use whatever bread you happen to have on hand at home. Dress it up with some curly lettuce and sliced fresh red tomatoes. Perfect on mini croissants for a party. Make it your own by adding more or less of any of the ingredients.
Here's how to make it.
Check out more of my salad recipes on my Pinterest page, including my deli style chicken salad, egg salad, tuna and shrimp salads!
If you make this or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!
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