Hot-Smoked Salmon & Egg Kedgeree
The beauty of this dish is that it can be cooked in advance, covered with cling film and reheated in the microwave on full power for 4–5 minutes, forking through the rice halfway through. It is equally good made with cooked flaked smoked haddock, smoked cod, kippers or even cooked peeled prawns.
Method
Melt half the butter in a 20-cm (8-inch) heavy-based pan, add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes until soft but not browned. Add the cardamom seeds, turmeric and cinnamon stick and cook for 1 minute.
Add the rice to the buttery onions and stir well. Add the stock, bay leaves and 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil, stir once, then cover with a well-fitting lid and leave to cook very gently over a low heat for 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then drain, peel and cut into small chunky pieces.
Uncover the rice and remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Gently fork in the hot-smoked salmon and eggs, re-cover and cook for a further 3–4 minutes until they have heated through. Melt the remaining butter. Uncover the rice once more and fork through the lemon juice, parsley, melted butter and some salt and pepper to taste.
Ingredients
- 50 g (2 oz) butter
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- seeds from 4 green cardamom pods
- 1⁄4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- a small piece of cinnamon stick
- 350 g (12 oz) basmati rice
- 600 ml (1 pint) chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 eggs
- 350 g (12 oz) hot-smoked salmon, broken into flakes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- the leaves from 1 x 20-g (3⁄4-oz) packet curly parsley, chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper