Kedgeree

 

This was a typical breakfast dish, in the days when grand Victorian breakfast dishes were spread out on handsome Victorian sideboards. Nowadays it is a very good lunch or late supper dish.

 

Kedgeree is one of those curious dishes to come out of colonial India, with European ingredients (in this case smoked fish, usually haddock) alongside Indian spices and rice. There's an Indian dish called Khichri which is a close cousin of our kedgeree, made from rice, lentils, onions and spices.

 

Here in the UK it's a (now rather uncommon) breakfast dish. When I was a kid, our neighbours used to invite the whole street round for a New Year's breakfast, in which kedgeree played a starring role. Kedgeree is a good idea if you've a lot of people staying in the house; you can prepare it the day before and microwave it for a very rich and delicious brunch.

 

It's important that the rice is chilled before you cook; if it is warm or hot, the grains are prone to break up and become mushy in cooking.

 

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

 

6oz   rice

6oz cooked fish, flaked and free from skin and bone

1 small onion very finely chopped

2-3oz best butter

2 hard boiled eggs finely chopped

Seasoning

1-2 tablespoons cream

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

 

Boil the rice, in plenty of salted boiling water, Drain thoroughly, meantime , chop the onion, soften the butter, without browning, add the fish and hard boiled eggs, mix and heat thoroughly, season well, add the very cold rice, and stir with a fork till very hot. At the last moment stir in the cream, turn into a hot dish at once and then sprinkle the parsley.

 

This can be made the day before and reheated before served.