Everyone loves Kedgeree - don't they?

Aaah, Kedgeree.  If ever there was a recipe that puts a smile on everyone's faces, it's that.  We're all very keen on anything that involves curry - and a Kedgeree that doesn't involve curry just isn't a Kedgeree, in my book.  Of course, there is the added bonus of it also involving smoked fish - and as we all love fish and especially smoked fish, then it is a given that we're going to love Kedgeree.

In fact, it is my ambition to one day have Kedgeree for breakfast.  I can't help but think that we'd have to go out tramping across the moors, wearing tweed and muttering about the damned beaters afterwards in order to justify the investment.

I have a very definite preferred type of Kedgeree, too.  I've been making Kedgeree for what amounts to donkey's years now and have changed the recipe quite considerably from the days when I would poach the fish in milk, add turmeric to the rice cooking water and so on.  These days, my recipe is fine tuned and designed to not lose even the tiniest iota of flavour.  Today's Kedgeree is a fairly dry concoction of delicious flavours that guarantees clear plates at the end of the meal.  In fact, I now know the recipe so well that this is the first time I've written it down! 

29 July 2016

I'm still cooking Kedgeree and it's still one of our family's very favourite meals.  I have taken the opportunity to edit the recipe slightly - for the better, I feel.  I haven't changed an awful lot, just slightly altered the order of cooking and added some garam masala, so don't worry, it's still the same yummy Kedgeree and still easy peasy to cook.

KEDGEREE (feeds 3-4)

Ingredients :

2 eggs
Basmati rice : 1 cupful per person, plus half a cupful
2 tbsp groundnut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of black pepper
half a tsp ground cinnamon
20-30g salted butter
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
a flat tsp ground coriander
a half a tsp ground turmeric
3 rounded dessertspoons of Korma curry paste
150ml warm water
400g smoked haddock or cod, skinned and cut into sections
half a tsp garam masala
a tablespoonful of fresh coriander, chopped.

Method :

Place a small saucepan of water on to boil.  When boiling, gently add the eggs and boil for some 8-10 minutes, until hard boiled.  Drain and refill the pan with cold water.  Set aside. 

Fill a large saucepan with water, add a little salt and bring to a boil.

Place the rice into a sieve and rinse under hot water until the water runs clear.  Leave in the sieve to drain, in a colander.

In a large frying pan, heat the groundnut oil and add the onion and garlic along with the cinnamon, sea salt and black pepper and fry on a slow heat until the onion is softened and beginning to brown (around 10-15 minutes).  Make sure to not let the garlic burn.

Add the butter and mushrooms and continue to cook until the butter has melted and the mushrooms have softened slightly.

The water for the rice should be boiling by now, so add the drained rice and cook until the rice is cooked through, but don't let it become too soft.  It needs to retain some "bite".  Once cooked, drain and replace into the hot saucepan until required.

To the vegetables, add the curry paste, ground coriander and ground turmeric and cook for some 5 minutes or so, stirring so as not to let it burn.  Add the water and stir through to create a thick sauce.

Reduce the heat under the pan and add the fish and cover while it gently cooks.  If the curry mixture has become a little dry, add a little more water.

Meanwhile, shell the boiled eggs and separate the yolks from the white.  Chop the white finely - I usually mash it with a fork.

Slightly before the fish is entirely cooked through, roughly flake into large pieces.  Add the garam masala, egg white, chopped coriander and drained, hot rice.  Stir everything through with a fork, using as few mixing strokes as possible in order to avoid breaking up the rice.

Serve onto hot plates and sprinkle each serving with the crushed egg yolk.

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