Name: Kedgeree
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 200 gm basmati rice (1 cup); 500 ml milk (2 cups); 2 fresh bay leaves; 600 gm smoked haddock (see note); 4 eggs, at room temperature; 40 gm butter, coarsely chopped; 2 tsp mild curry powder (see note); 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped; 1 tsp finely grated ginger; ¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; To serve: lemon wedges and mango chutney

“At the thought of a kedgeree made with smoked haddock and plenty of hard-boiled eggs,” writes Elizabeth David in , “English eyes grow dreamy and the smell of an English country house dining room at breakfast time… comes back to tease and tantalise.”

File this one under fusion gone horribly right. Like curry, mulligatawny, Worcester sauce and a slew of other English foods, kedgeree was born of England’s colonisation of India. Traditionally a breakfast dish, it equally satisfies the Victorian love of fish (and smoked fish) and eggs for breakfast and the Bombay breakfaster’s need for a solid and tasty meal that combines carbs and protein in a way that sets one up for a day’s labour. The Hindi dish khichri, kedgeree’s precursor, is recorded recognisably in references dating back to the 14th century, according to : “Hobson-Jobson quotes the Arab trader Ibn Batuta (1340): ‘the munj [mung beans or lentils] is boiled with rice, then buttered and eaten.’”

The introduction of flaked or smoked fish is thought to have been a British take on the originally vegetarian dish, and when the dish left the subcontinent it also seems to have lost its leguminous component, the fish becoming the sole protein.

It’s rarely seen at breakfast nowadays – brunch at a pinch – and more often graces lunch or even supper spreads. Variations stretch from those that embrace the dish’s subcontinental origins and include rich (and sometimes hot) spicing, reinstate the legumes, and garnish with coriander, chilli and fried onion, to the more genteel, English-country-garden versions, which tend to swap chives, cress or parsley for coriander, play down the curry flavours, keeping spicing to mace and bay, and play up the butter and hard-boiled eggs. Richer versions, too, include the addition of cream or, as we have in this recipe, the milk used to poach the smoked fish.

It’s worth noting that in presenting their take on kedgeree on TV’s

, Clarissa Dickson Wright and the late Jennifer Paterson – kedgeree lovers of the first order – maintained that the apocryphal Colonel’s maid who brought the dish back to England sans lentils struck a winning blow against vegetarians in doing so: “Hurrah! Get rid of all lentils,” said Dickson Wright. “You’ve no idea how randy they make vegetarians.”

With its no-nonsense boiled eggs, rice and smoked fish, this traditional breakfast dish is a favourite of the English.

Ingredients

200 gm basmati rice (1 cup)

500 ml milk (2 cups)

2 fresh bay leaves

600 gm smoked haddock (see note)

4 eggs, at room temperature

40 gm butter, coarsely chopped

2 tsp mild curry powder (see note)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp finely grated ginger

¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

To serve: lemon wedges and mango chutney

Method

Main

1.Combine rice, 1 cup water and 1 tsp sea salt in a heavy-based saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Stir, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until water has been absorbed and rice is cooked through (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat, cool completely, then fluff grains using a fork.

2.Bring milk, bay leaves and 2 cups of water to the boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, add fish and simmer until fish flakes easily (10 minutes). Cool in liquid, remove and coarsely flake, discarding skin and bones. Reserve 1 cup of poaching liquid.

3.Meanwhile, place eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 4 minutes. Drain, refresh under cold running water, peel, thinly slice and set aside.

4.Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat, add curry, onion, garlic and ginger and sauté until onion is soft (about 5 minutes). Add rice and fish, stirring to combine, and cook until heated through (about 3 minutes). Add poaching liquid, egg and parsley, stirring to combine, and cook until eggs are warm (about 2 minutes). Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve with lemon and chutney to the side.