Smoked fish and lentil kedgeree

First boil the washed brown lentils and salt just before the end of cooking (this should take about 30 minutes, you want them to have a bit of bite) and drain.
Sweat the onions in the butter until translucent and add the spices and salt, stirring until fragrant.

Add the rice and stir to coat with the fat and spices.

Turn the heat up to high, pour in the stock and immediately cover with a tight-fitting lid. A glass one is preferable so you can see the bubbles but you can also put your ear to the pot to listen for boiling.

As soon as it boils, turn the heat down to its lowest setting (if you have a gas ring, you might need one of those trivet things so it’s not too hot) and cook for 17 minutes – at no point during cooking should you remove the lid.

Remove the lid and stir the lentils through.

Taste for salt.
Assemble by topping the lentilly rice with fish, boiled eggs, tomatoes and parsley and whatever else that might catch your fancy, give it a generous grind of pepper and squeeze a bit of lemon juice over.