Newsletter #14 – Kedgeree

Today we have a look at a British breakfast/ brunch dish with Indian sub-continent origins – Kedgeree. Many recipes that I feature have a story but kedgeree has a history. Traceable back to the year 1340 ‘khichuri’ was a similar dish that had rice and lentils as ingredients and occasionally fish. It gained popularity with the British when India was part of the British Empire. Eventually Kedgeree found its way back to Great Britain. Again there are a number of variations in how it is prepared  and presented but common ingredients include cooked rice, curry powder, butter, smoked  Haddock and boiled egg.

When I serve Kedgeree I prefer top the rice with a single poached egg instead of the quartered boiled egg. The runny yolk mixes well with the rice as opposed to the hard-boiled egg and it feels more Australian.

But firstly we’ll have a look at how to poach not one, but multiple eggs, which is handy if you have guests for breakfast and you would prefer to all eat at the same time.

How to poach eggs:

Some appliances and utensils are sold as egg poachers. Lidded pans with individual metal or plastic cups and silicon moulds both offer a cookery method that is not poaching. Recently I saw a recipe for poached eggs cooked in an air-fryer – NO!

Poaching is a ‘moist’ cookery method used for preparing delicate foods that require less cooking such as fish, fruits and eggs. You can use milk, stock, diluted wine and in the case of poached eggs, water. The cooking temperature is between 70c – 80c, which is lower than simmering. A good way of achieving the correct temperature is to bring the water to the boil and then turning the heat down until the water stops simmering.

Of the many videos showing you how to successfully poach an egg, I can’t recall seeing more than one egg being poached at a time. A single egg takes about three minutes to poach, so if you were poaching eggs for three people (two eggs each) the last egg would be ready 18 minutes after the first egg was done, or longer if someone wanted hard yolk. If you need a single egg or multiple eggs this is how I do it.

Step 1.  Assemble your equipment and ingredients. You’ll need a small un-lidded saucepan – say 2 litres or a small shallow pan, say 60mm deep, both preferably non stick  or stainless steel;  a plastic slotted spoon to avoid scratching the pan surface; one small ramekin; absorbent kitchen paper; a small bowl with chilled water. Remember to use the freshest eggs available.

You’ll need four fresh eggs and 50ml of white wine vinegar.

Step 2. Bring to the boil in your pan or saucepan enough water to poach the four eggs. Add the vinegar. Turn the heat down till the water is just below simmering.

Step 3. Crack the eggs in the ramekin one at a time and gently lower the egg into the water. In a clockwise direction, do the same with the other eggs. Depending on the size of pan  you could put the final egg in the centre.  This should take about one minute. Adjust the heat up to compensate the drop in water temperature, but avoid boiling the water.

Step 4. Using the spoon, starting with egg number one, gently make sure the eggs haven’t stuck to the surface of the pan.

Step 4. If any of the eggs are not immersed, spoon the hot water over them or add a little hot water from the kettle.

Step 5. When you think the eggs are to your liking, lift the first one and test with your finger tip.

Step 6. In order, take the eggs out and place in the chilled water. This does two things – it stops the cooking process and negates the vinegar flavour.

Step 7. Discard the poaching water (unless you require more eggs) and replace with fresh simmering water. When you need to serve them place the poached eggs (which by now should be around room temperature) into the fresh simmering water for 20 seconds before taking them out and placing them on the absorbent paper. Ready.

Notes:

• As long as you don’t overdo the vinegar, you may find the flavour acceptable without refreshing the eggs, particularly in the case of Eggs Benedict
• The pan I used can take up to six eggs

Kedgeree

While you could consider using leftover cooked rice, Kedgeree would benefit from fresh rice cooked pilaf style. This is rice cooked by absorbing just enough water or stock. Some recipes call for the separate poaching of the smoked fish in milk; I prefer steaming the fish on top of the rice.

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Course: Breakfast, Main Course

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Kedgeree ingredients for 2 – 3 servings:

• 100 ml milk
• 250 g -350g smoked haddock fillets
• 1 cup Basmati rice
• 10 ml Olive oil
• 1¾ cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 1 small bay leaf
• 3 Cardamom pods split (optional)
• 2 Curry leaves optional
• Salt
• Cracked pepper
• 50 g butter
• 2 small French shallots or 1small onion both peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic peeled, finely chopped or minced.
• 10 g Curry powder I use ‘Clive of India’
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• Juice from half a lemon
• 100 ml cream
• Parsley rinsed, picked, roughly chopped. ¼ cup finished.
• Coriander optional prepared the same as parsley
• chives to garnish

Equipment

• You’ll need a lidded saucepan and frypan for this recipe. A steamer style top for the saucepan would be helpful, but not essential

Method

 

1. Assemble ingredients
   
2. Macerate the smoked haddock in the milk for 30 minutes and then drain
3. Prepare the smoked haddock into pieces that will fit within the saucepan or steamer’s diameter
4. Heat your saucepan with the oil and add the dry rice; stir with a wooden spoon to prevent the rice from scorching on the bottom of the saucepan
   
5. After 2-3 minutes add the stock, bay leaf, curry leaf, cardamom. The stock should boil at first before recovering. Season carefully now for better distribution.
6. Stir the rice until it starts boiling again. It should have the consistency of a thin sauce. Turn the heat down to lowest temperature and give it a final stir.
7. If you are using a steamer top for the fish place it on top and lid the saucepan. If you aren’t, just lid the pot.
8. After about 5 minutes, quickly check the rice to make sure it is cooking by giving it a stir. Alternatively the heat may be too high and the rice is sticking; in either case adjust the heat. Lid the pot
9. If you are not using a steamer top, place the fish directly on top of the rice now to cook. Try for a single layer of fish so it will cook evenly. Lid the pot
10. After another 10minutes, both the rice and the fish should be done, regardless of which way you steamed the fish
11. Remove the fish and let it cool a little.
12. Remove the rice from the heat and carefully ‘fluff’ up the rice, before replacing the lid. Try and retrieve (and discard) the leaves and the pods. Leave the rice saucepan at the back of the stove to keep warm.
13. With your fingers, flake the fish, being careful to remove and discard all the bones and the skin. Keep the flaked fish at the back of the stove
    
14. Meanwhile heat the frypan and melt the butter. When sizzling add the onion and garlic.
    
15. Gently cook for 2 minutes before adding the curry powder and ground cumin
    
16. Continue cooking for a further 1 minute
    
17. Stir in lemon juice. When it has evaporated add the cream. Bring to the boil.
    
18. Either in the rice saucepan or a large bowl break up the rice (a dinner fork or chopsticks works well). Fold in the hot curry cream, mix well. Add the parsley and coriander. Mix well.
19. Finally, carefully fold in the smoked haddock
20. Serve with a poached egg and buttered toast. Garnish with chives.

Notes

I made up a vegetable stock with a powdered stock base.
I soak the fish in milk to make the fish less salty. Be careful with your seasonings as the fish will still be salty.
The fish will also add liquid to the rice so be careful not to add too much stock
Smoked haddock may still have fine bones particularly at the thicker end of the fillet
The fish will take longer to cook in a steamer top
In Australia, smoked salmon is a popular substitute for smoked haddock. However smoked salmon does not require cooking. Just fold through the salmon the hot cooked rice or alternatively just arrange the salmon on top.
As with any ‘green food’ extended cooking can leach the colour out to give a less appetising appearance. So be careful with your green herbs and any other green vegetables such as peas that you might consider adding
In our kitchen we have a glass top stove. These stoves not only take longer to heat up but they also retain heat. Take this into account when turning down the heat to a low simmer.