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With the summer sun taking a snooze behind stormy clouds for now, warm yourselves back up with this fragrant, satisfying and decidedly decadent play on kedgeree. It is simple to make and perfect for a large scale brunch!
To me, recipes are all about their history, their stories, their very reason for being… and fusion foods usually have an intriguing tale behind them. Indeed, food can be a powerful nostalgic tool; Kedgeree is no exception as it originates from Scottish soldiers posted in India…
Naturally, whilst out there, they became accustomed to Indian spices and would have likely eaten a lot more rice than in their usual diet back in the UK. Kedgeree comes as a blend of Indian curry spices and rice, mixed with the Scottish staple - smoked fish, and a standard British breakfast choice - eggs. In fact, the word Kedgeree comes straight from the Hindi word ‘khichari’, a rice and bean based dish, which can be dated back 7 centuries at least. More indirectly, it is even mentioned as far back as the Macedonian, Seleucus Nicator (Alexander the Great’s infantry commander and founder of the Seleucid Empire) who lived from 358 BC – 281 BC. He commented on the popularity of this rice and pulses meal in the Indian subcontinent and judging by his long life of 77 years, discovering this dish did him no harm either (presumably his pal Alexander chose the continental breakfast, as he died at age 33).
From my research into this, the dish is evidently a comfort food in India even to this day and is flexible in what you can add to it. Presumably, upon returning back to Blighty, The Scottish soldiers tried to recreate this staple of Indian diets with a few of their to hand ingredients - namely the smoked fish. Likewise, the (controversial) peas would be an easy to hand British ingredient that (I believe) helps to freshen up the dish. As fusion food goes, this one harks back a few years - Kedgeree was listed as early as 1790 in the recipe book of Stephana Malcolm of Burnfoot; thus there is a fair amount of heritage to this fairly humble yet nostalgic breakfast.
My kedgeree is not strictly traditional: I use smoked kippers rather than smoked haddock and whilst some people are a stickler for it not having peas, this recipe does include peas. Recipes are what you make of them, and as such there is no need for snobbery with food; just enjoy it your way. Seeing as this is a fusion dish, I think it gives us all the more license to fiddle with it.
I originally cooked this dish at university and it has changed very little since then. Most things I cook have changed and been improved over the years but this recipe was fairly spot on even back when I didn't really know what I was doing (even if I thought I did). Anyhow, back as a student, I found kippers to be a very cheap option compared to the smoked haddock in the traditional recipe. I still use kippers now as I enjoy the vivid, dazzling shine of the kipper’s skin and its rich oily flavour, but choose whichever fish you so desire. Remember though, that as kippers are an oily fish, they can lead to a richer end meal than you would get with haddock.
Enjoy!
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Smoked Kippers - 2
¾ cup basmati rice
4 eggs
Medium curry powder - 1 heaped tablespoon
Frozen peas - 1 cup
1 onion - finely chopped
1 or 2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
Double cream - a glug or 2.
Fresh parsley or chives to serve.
Lemon juice - to taste (about ½ a lemon should do)
Method:
Place the kippers in a saucepot. Pour over 1 ½ cups of Water (vary this according to the amount of rice you will cook later), add the bay leaves and bring the water to a gentle simmer. Leave for 8-10 minutes or until the fish flakes apart easily. Do not discard the water, you need it for the rice, do however, throw away the bay leaves at this point.
Stir the rice into the water leftover from cooking the kippers (should be twice the volume of water to rice). Add a pinch of salt, bring to the boil, and then reduce it to a simmer - cook for 10 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked.
Meanwhile, hard boil the 4 eggs in boiling water. Ideally you want a gooey, just set yolk so I tend to cook for the eggs for 6 minutes or so. When cooked, drain and place in cold water to make peeling easier and prevent the yolk from overcooking.
Peel the eggs and cut into quarters nb. Older eggs will be far easier to peel than fresh ones so bear that in mind.
Cook the peas in boiling water for a few minutes (until the float the top).
Using a large frying pan, fry the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil and butter at a medium temperature until softened. Mix in the curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes; turn the heat down to low.
Stir the cooked rice into the onions. Add the peas, cream, parsley (or chives), lemon juice and a touch of black pepper. Mix this together and check the seasoning.
Cut the eggs into quarters and place them on the rice. Cover the pan with a lid if you need to warm the eggs through. Serve