Kedgeree
A dish that came back from colonial India to Victorian dining rooms and stayed there as breakfast. It is built on smoked fish poached in milk, not water: the milk draws out excess salt and smoke while itself becoming aromatic, and it then goes on to cook the rice. Nothing is wasted here and nothing is accidental.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Fish in milk 12 min
- Eggs 8 min
- Rice 25 min
- Combining 8 min
Step by step
0 / 7 donePoach the fish in milk, not boiling water
Put the fish in a shallow pan, cover with the milk and bay and heat for 10 minutes over low heat — the milk should barely tremble. Boiling milk sets the fish protein hard and boils over. Lift the fish out and keep the milk.
Ingredients: 500 g smoked fish · 400 ml milk · 2 pcs bay leaves · 4 pcs eggs
The milk barely trembles, it never boils.Boil the eggs for six minutes
Boil the eggs for 6 minutes from boiling and move them into cold water. The yolk should stay clearly liquid — cut open it runs into the rice and binds it like a sauce. Hard boiled it will not.
Ingredients: 500 g smoked fish · 400 ml milk · 2 pcs bay leaves · 4 pcs eggs
Bloom the spices with the onion
Melt the butter, soften the chopped onion for 6 minutes, add the curry powder, turmeric and crushed cardamom pods and fry another minute, until fragrant. The spices are fried in fat before any liquid goes in — as in any curry, that is when they give the most aroma.
Ingredients: 50 g butter · 1 pcs onion · 300 g basmati rice · 1 tbsp curry powder · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 pcs cardamom · 150 g peas
A minute in butter, then the rice.Add the rice and coat it in fat
Add the rinsed rice and stir for 2 minutes, until every grain is coated in the spiced butter. That film of fat keeps the grains separate — kedgeree should be loose, not sticky.
Ingredients: 50 g butter · 1 pcs onion · 300 g basmati rice · 1 tbsp curry powder · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 pcs cardamom · 150 g peas
Cook the rice in the fish milk
Strain the poaching milk, top up to 600 ml with water and pour it over the rice. Bring to the boil, turn the heat to its lowest (milk catches easily) and cook covered for 12 minutes, adding the peas for the last 3. Do not stir during this — stirring releases starch and glues the grains. Take off the heat and leave covered for 5 minutes.
Ingredients: 50 g butter · 1 pcs onion · 300 g basmati rice · 1 tbsp curry powder · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 pcs cardamom · 150 g peas
Fold the fish through with a fork
Flake the fish, discarding skin and bones, and fold it in with a fork, lifting the rice from below. A spoon crushes the grains, a fork separates them. Add the cream and chopped herbs.
Ingredients: 60 ml whipping cream (30%) · ½ bunch parsley · ½ bunch coriander · 1 pcs lemon
A fork from below — the rice stays loose.Arrange the eggs and serve with lemon
Halve the eggs and set them on top. Serve with lemon wedges — smoked fish and butter need acid, and without it the dish is heavy and monotonous.
Ingredients: 60 ml whipping cream (30%) · ½ bunch parsley · ½ bunch coriander · 1 pcs lemon
Before you start
Which fish
Traditionally cold-smoked haddock. Smoked cod or pollock are the closest substitutes. Smoked mackerel works too, but it is oilier and more assertive — use a third less of it.
For dinner, not just breakfast
The Victorians ate it in the morning, but kedgeree works very well in the evening. Add chopped fresh chilli then and serve with mango chutney — the same base carries much stronger seasoning.
Reheating
Cool leftovers quickly and keep them in the fridge for no more than a day — cooked rice should not sit around warm. Reheat covered, with a splash of water, until piping hot throughout. Add fresh eggs — a reheated yolk turns grey and crumbly, and the yolk was meant to be the sauce.
