A British Colonial thingie, and people are re-inventing the recipe, really, there are so many emasculated homeopathic - thingies - but (Argh I’m becoming a grumpy grumpy GRUMPY old guy) originally it was someone in India thinking "I wish I had some smoked kippers or haddock for breakfas. . ." - . . . - "Boy! Please ask Cook to make something like that for breakfast! But make it a bit local, okay?"
I'm paraphrasing a bit but this is a pastiche recipe - an Ayurvedic khichari style dish that included spices, fried onions, ginger, and lentils. As a result, if you'd like to also add ginger (I leave it out because no Kedgeree recip[e really ever mentions it) that's probably within the rulez.
But it peeved me that so few recipes mention the lentils either. So yeah - GetchaKedgereeHere!
INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
3-4 eggs
1c basmati rice (or golden sella is also nice, or any other Asia/Indian rice, whatever you think they used)
1 - 2 smoked cod fillets (any nice smoked fish actually, haddock often gets a mention)
1c milk / water 50-50 mix
100g butter
2 onions
1/4c lemon juice max (you can use more - or less - or none - use your taste buds)
Bunch of fresh coriander
1/4 - 1/2c frozen peas
1/4c red lentils
1tsp salt
3tsp curry powder
(or . . .)
2tsp curry powder, 1/2tsp cumin powder, 1/2tsp coriander powder
1tsp cardamom seeds or 1/2tsp cardamom powder
1/2tsp ginger powder (oh so optional!)
METHOD:
Hardboil the eggs. (Or use yesterday’s hardboiled eggs. Whatever happened to just having a couple of hardboiled eggs? We had pumpernickel with cream chees, chives, beetroot, and sliced hardboild eggs. Delicious and quick. Should be more of it.) Peel the hardboiled eggs. Quarter or six-way wedge them. Set aside.
Cook the rice as you normally would (with the exception of adding the red lentils along with the rice) nice and fluffy and slightly on the firm side rather than tender. (Don’t know how to make failproof rice? DON’T rinse it unless you buy really shyte quality rice. Use 2c water to 1c rice/lentils, DO add half a teaspoon of salt, bring to a boil with the lid on, then simmer and stir occasionally until the water’s evaporated. Keep putting the lid back on between stirs. When it gets to the “water almost entirely gone” stage turn off the heat and set it aside for 10 - 15 minutes. It’ll be lovely.)
Cut the smoked fish or break it into large chunks. You can skin if you like but the flavour’s in there. Try and get as many small bones out as possible along the way. Set aside.
Peel the onions, cut off both ends, stand upright and slice lengthways into crescent wedges. Put the butter in a large enough frypan pan and add the onions, place over low-medium heat. (Or a dutch oven or a wok, I have a big stainless steel wok and find it ideal, but you do you.)
Add the cardamom seeds if you’re using those. (Actually, I put the cardamom seeds in the wok earlier, with a splash of vegetable oil and salt, toast them gently until they start popping, then carefully pour in a few tablespoons of water, simmer until most of the water’s gone, and by then the cardamom seeds are a bit softened. When most of the water’s gone I put that into a small bowl and wipe the pan out with paper towel and add the seeds and liquid back in a bit later.)
Once the onions start sizzling, drizzle a bit of water in (again being very careful, it’ll try to spit) and let that completely evaporate, then reduce the heat, check if the onions are soft. When they are:
Add the dry powdered spices and salt and gently fry until the aromas start to stand out. (If you’re still using slow gentle heat then this can be toasted for a bit longer than you think you need, just stop short of burning the powders.)
Once the dry spices are aromatic, add the cardamom & liquid if you did that the way I do, add the water and milk, and bring it to a gentle simmer. Add the peas. Add the fish chunks, stir very gently. If it looks like too much is evaporating, add a bit more milk.
(Look - I know most recipes faff around with “poach the fish in milk and water, throw away all that flavour and the dairy fats softening the curry flavours…” - There’s a reason why so many curries and spicy foods have yoghurt or cream or sour cream as side dishes or include them in the recipe.)
Add the cooked rice and lentil mixture. This will absorb the remaining liquid, which is why slightly firmer rice is good. Once the liquid is absorbed, gently fold in most of the eggs, some chopped fresh coriander, and serve.
SERVING:
You can put aside a few egg wedges and some chopped coriander for dressing when serving. You can also sprinkle some red paprika powder over the dish. (Indian paprika is slightly “sharper” in flavour than the usual red paprika you get at the supermarket but it’s worth it if you make this dish, other curries, and dips like dal and babaganoosh.)
NOTES:
NOTES:
I put a lot of stuff in parentheses in the recipe above. Because this was a flexible recipe but it has some rules. Sorry.
It's a dish that has curry, rice, smoked fish, coriander (not parsley!) and was usually made for breakfasts by a cook hired to the particular house. The eggs and peas were added because eggs are a breakfast dish to the British and peas were a familiar vegetable, the spices and coriander added the fillip of oriental spice that the expat British enjoyed.
I make it for dinners rather than breakfasts. My one break with tradition. 😺 (Actually, my breakfasts are always breaks with tradition - I'll probably put up an article here on what I do and why. Promise it's interesting...)
ENJOY!
ENJOY!
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