Kedgeree is an unusual dish. While, like many dishes that have become ingrained into British Culture, it originated in India it has become a staple of British cuisine since the Victorian times where it was, despite it being full of curry spices and all the characteristics of an evening meal, enjoyed as a breakfast time meal – but I’ve only ever had it for lunch or dinner.
The dish has been around as early as the 1790s and is traditionally made with smoked haddock, rice, parsley, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder and butter or cream. But I’ve made a few tweaks to the recipe to tailor it to my tastes and to make the cooking method, in my opinion, slightly easier. But whether you have this for breakfast, lunch or dinner, it’s definitely a filling, satisfying dish!
For this recipe, to get the best results, I recommend a large frying pan that you can put a lid on or cover easily.
Kedgeree
Print RecipeIngredients
- 300g Smoked Haddock Fillets
- 4 Eggs
- 150g Long Grain Rice
- 1 x Onion
- 2 x Leeks
- 2 x Cloves Garlic
- 1 x Red Chilli
- 3 x Tomatoes
- 1 x Lemon, Juice and Zest
- 1 pint Chicken Stock
- 2 tbsp Creme Fraiche
- 2 tsp Curry Powder
- 1 tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 tsp Ground Coriander
- 1 tsp Ground Tumeric
- ½ tsp Ground Ginger
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Sunflower Oil
- Fresh Coriander
Instructions
Bring a large saucepan of water up to the boil, and place the eggs (still in the shell) in to boil for approximately 8 minutes. After which, remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl in ice cool water to stop the cooking process. Don't tip away the water.
In the same saucepan bring the water back up to the boil, and top it up if necessary, and add in one or two chicken stock cubes to the water. Once the stock cub has dissolved, place the smoked haddock fillets into the water with the two bay leaves and bring down to a simmer.
Simmer the haddock fillets for 10 minutes and then remove from the water - again, don't tip the water away - and place onto a plate and leave to cool. Save 1 pint of the stock water which now have been infused with the smoked haddock flavour.
Dice the onions, leeks, garlic cloves, and red chilli and place into a frying pan with the sunflower oil which has been allowed to heat up for a couple of minutes. Allow these all to cook and soften over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
Bring the heat up to medium-high and add in the curry powder, cumin, coriander, tumeric, ginger, and salt and mix into the onion mixture and cook for a few minutes.
Remove the skin from the smoked haddock - it should just peel off from where the fish was poached - and then flake the haddock up into chunks and add into the frying pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the rice into frying pan with the spiced onion mixture and smoked haddock, adding a little more oil if necessary, and then cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly so the rice doesn't stick.
Add the saved stock water into the pan, stir it in well, and then add a lid - or cover the pan tightly in foil - and bring the heat down to low so that the kedgeree is simmering gently. Leave to cook away for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, chop the tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds, then dice them up. Take a large bunch of fresh coriander and chop it finely. Remove the lid from the saucepan and add these into the kedgeree and stir in and cook for a couple of minutes.
Once the rice has absorbed most of the liquid, turn the heat off and add the couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche into the kedgeree and gently fold it in until completely combined.
Peel the hard boiled eggs, cut in half, and serve with the kedgeree with a some more chopped fresh coriander.
