Kedgeree

Growing up, we ate Kedgeree for breakfast, every Easter and Christmas. We still do, although often more like brunch time.

It was Grandma’s recipe – my grandmother on Dad’s side – although it wasn’t written down. She was Scottish, hence this former Raj dish, a bastardised version of the rice/lentil Kirichi, was shorn of all spices and adorned with bacon and butter. Not a spice in sight.

Mum and I have added a few spices back over time, but I do feel this should be more aromatic than hot – think pilaf. It should be moist rather than saucy (if that isn’t a tautology). Feeds six, but easily scalable up for a crowd.

• 150ml milk
• 700g smoked haddock – undyed. The bright yellow stuff tastes artificial. The pale yellow of the finished dish should come from the turmeric not food dye. That’s telling you.

• 400g basmati rice
• 3 eggs

• 50g butter
• 1 onion, finely sliced – it’s best to avoid red onion, which turns green after being cooked with turmeric, as you can see if you look carefiully at my photos. Who knew?
• 6 cardamom pods
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 12 rashers streaky smoked bacon

Heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade and boil a kettle (it’s probably a good idea to do this whenever you start cooking). Butter a gratin dish.

Bring the milk to a gentle simmer in a frying pan wide enough to fit all the smoked haddock in one layer. Add the fish and enough hot water to just cover it with simmering liquid. Poach for 4-5 minutes until just cooked enough to peel away from the skin, but don’t cook for longer, as the dish will be baked later too. Let cool on a plate, reserving the fishy milk in the pan.

Cook the rice and eggs together for eight minutes in boiling water, so the rice will be slightly underdone and the egg just the soft side of hard boiled. Drain the rice. Plunge the eggs into cold water to stop them cooking and prevent any grey tinge to the outside of the yolks. Peel and halve the eggs.

In the meantime, fry the spices in the butter until they start to smell fragrant. Then add the sliced onion and fry gently until soft and golden. It sounds like a lot of butter, but will help keep the finished dish moist.

Mix the oniony, buttery spices into the rice well. Season with more black pepper than you think you need; but no salt, as the fish will make everything salty. Flake the haddock into large chunks and fold into the rice delicately, so they don’t break up too much, then spread evenly in the buttered gratin dish. Make hollows in the top with the back of a spoon, to nestle the halved eggs into. Pour over enough of the milk to come around a quarter of the way up the rice. Layer the bacon, slightly overlapping, on top. Dot some more butter on top to melt into it.

Bake for 20-30 mins in the preheated oven until the kedgeree is hot and the bacon is crisp.