I’ve always seen kedjeree as a jumble of ingredients, like the food equivalent of a jamboree….a jazzy festival of flavours, a fabulous brunch, hearty and ‘Sunday snooze inducing’. Kedgeree is the kind of dish that lends itself to lazy weekend, lazy late breakfasts. Not much effort is required to deliver such delicious results.

I like the fact that with this recipe, the rice is cooked in the milk used to poach the fish, intensifying the flavour. Manipulate the recipe to suit leftover fish or cooked rice (which if left to refrigerate overnight) fries incredibly well. 

Ingredients Serves 4-6 

• 320g smoked haddock (undid if you can get it)
• 180g lightly smoked salmon fillet
• 1 dried red chilli
• 1/2 pint full fat milk
• 3 tbsp veg or sunflower oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 15-20 curry leaves
• 5 cardamom pods, split
• 1 cinnamon sticken, broken into pieces
• 280g basmati rice
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 50g butter
• 3 eggs (so for 4 people, each person gets 3/4)
• 2 handfuls of chopped coriander 
• 2 limes cut into wedges to serve
• 1 handful of crisp onions or shallots

Method

Add both fish to a saucepan with the chilli, cover with the milk and simmer for 4 minutes then leave covered to slowly cool.

Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a deep frying pan (with a lid) and add onion, curry leaves, cardamom, cinnamon and fry until the onion is soft and golden (about 8 minutes), stirring often.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the fish from the milk, discard any skin and bones, cover and set aside.

Pour your milk into a measuring jug and add water to make 600ml.

Rinse rice well in water, drain and add it to the pan with the onion. Stir to coat then pour in the milk/water and stir in the turmeric. Bring to the boil and then simmer covered for 10 minutes (lower the heat if it starts to stick).

When rice is tender remove from the heat, add butter so it melts in then lay the pieces of fish over. Cover to let the flavours mingle.

Cook your eggs for 6-7 minutes (7 for X large) in boiling water so they are soft boiled then run under cold water and remove the shells before slicing each egg into quarters.

To serve, carefully break the fish into smaller pieces using a fork, stir in the coriander, spoon onto plates and add sliced egg. Scatter with crisp onions and serve with lime wedges.