Nigel Slater Kedgeree Food

KEDGEREE

Steps:

• Place the haddock in a large frying pan, skin-side up. Pour over 500ml/18fl oz water, add the bay leaves and bring the water to a gentle simmer. Cook the fish for 8-10 minutes until it is just done and flakes easily. Drain in a colander set over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquor, and discard the bay leaves.
• Pour the cooking liquor into a saucepan and stir in the rice. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the rice very gently for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the rice covered for 3-5 minutes more. By this time it should have absorbed all the fish liquor.
• While the rice is cooking, bring some water to the boil in a saucepan. Add the eggs and cook for 8 minutes. Drain them in a sieve under cold running water and when cool enough to handle, peel them carefully and set aside. Cook the peas, if using, in a small saucepan of boiling water and drain.
• Melt the butter with the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion over a low heat for 5 minutes until well softened, stirring occasionally. Add the curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Place the cooked rice into the pan and stir into the onions. Add the peas, cream, parsley and a few twists of ground black pepper.
• Flake the fish into chunky pieces and add these to the pan. Gently stir in the lemon juice and cook for 1-2 minutes. Cut the eggs into quarters and place them on top of the rice. Cover the pan with a lid and heat through for 2-3 minutes or until the eggs are warm, then serve.

ULTIMATE KEDGEREE

Steps:

• For the crisp onions, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onions with a pinch of salt (which helps to stop them burning), then cook on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until deep golden, about 20-25 mins. When done, spread on paper towels and leave to crisp up. While the onions are frying, put both fish in a frying pan with the chilli. Pour the milk over, cover and simmer for 4 mins. Take off the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 mins to finish gently cooking the fish.
• Meanwhile, heat the 3 tbsp oil in a deep frying or sauté pan (with a lid). Add the onion, curry leaves, cardamom and cinnamon and fry until the onion is soft and golden, about 7-8 mins, stirring often. Lift the fish from the milk with a slotted spoon, discard the skin and any bones, cover to keep warm and set aside. Make the milk up to 600ml/1pt with water. Rinse the rice in warm water in a colander, drain, then stir it into the onion. Keep stirring for 1 min so the rice is coated. Pour in the milk mix and stir in the turmeric. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 mins, covered, lowering the heat if it starts to stick on the bottom.
• When the rice is tender, remove from the heat, drop the butter on top so it melts in, then lay the whole pieces of fish on the rice. Cover and leave for the flavours to mingle. Meanwhile, put the eggs in a pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil, then boil for 6 mins (for lightly boiled). Remove from the heat and plunge into cold water, cracking the shells against the side of the pan. Peel off the shells and quarter the eggs.
• To serve, break the fish into big pieces with a fork, throw in the coriander and stir gently to mix without breaking up the fish, adding the eggs at the end. Season, scatter crisp onions on top and serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

SMOKED HADDOCK KEDGEREE

Steps:

• Melt 50g butter in a large saucepan (about 20cm across), add 1 finely chopped medium onion and cook gently over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened but not browned.
• Stir in 3 split cardamom pods, ¼ tsp turmeric, 1 small cinnamon stick and 2 bay leaves, then cook for 1 minute.
• Tip in 450g basmati rice and stir until it is all well coated in the spicy butter.
• Pour in 1 litre chicken or fish stock, add ½ teaspoon salt and bring to the boil, stir once to release any rice from the bottom of the pan. Cover with a close-fitting lid, reduce the heat to low and leave to cook very gently for 12 minutes.
• Meanwhile, bring some water to the boil in a large shallow pan. Add 750g un-dyed smoked haddock fillet and simmer for 4 minutes, until the fish is just cooked. Lift it out onto a plate and leave until cool enough to handle.
• Hard-boil 3 eggs for 8 minutes.
• Flake the fish, discarding any skin and bones. Drain the eggs, cool slightly, then peel and chop.
• Uncover the rice and remove the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods if you wish to. Gently fork in the fish and the chopped eggs, cover again and return to the heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the fish has heated through.
• Gently stir in almost all the 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, and season with a little salt and black pepper to taste. Serve scattered with the remaining parsley and garnished with 1 lemon, cut into wedges.