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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.