Salmon Kedgeree

While I was looking at the Health and Lifestyle section of Yahoo! I recently discovered a vintage Anglo-Indian rice and fish curried recipe called kedgeree. The Scottish claim kedgeree to be one of their traditional recipe... hmn... curry powder in a Scottish recipe, seriously? The story goes that way back during the British Raj, it was a Scottish regiment serving in India that kind of played with the idea of smoked fish and curry powder together. Apparently it was a very popular breakfast item for the English in India. I'm not sure if it ever went out of fashion but I think it is back again. Even the great Gordon Ramsay himself has a very posh version of it in one of his cookbooks called Cooking for Friends. I've never made kedgeree before and hey, if Gordon Ramsay likes it enough to put in in his cookbook, I'm sure it must be pretty damn good. Here's the video if anyone is interested.



I did not completely follow Gordon Ramsay's recipe. Instead I just used whatever ingredients are available in my pantry. We had this for dinner, frankly I can eat it anytime of the day. I haven't said it yet, but we loved it, oh yeah, it was pretty damn good.



1 cup of basmati rice
3 cups of chicken stock
1 tsp of turmeric powder
2 tsp of mild curry powder
1 stalk of lemon grass, bruised
1 small bunch of thyme
a handful of chopped cilantro and dill
2 slices of wild salmon (about 250g)
2 eggs, hard boiled
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 small knob of unsalted butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced

First I simmered the stock and added the thyme, turmeric, lemon grass stalk, salt and pepper until really hot but not boiling then I poached the salmon in it for about 7 minutes until nicely cooked then I put them aside for a bit and reserved the stock.

Then I made the pilaf. First I sauteed the shallots and garlic in the olive oil, added the curry powder and the rice and poured the stock including the thyme and lemon grass. I cooked it for about 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is fully cooked. Then I fluffed the rice and added the knob of butter and adjusted the salt and pepper. Next I flaked the salmon into bite sized chunks, sprinkled it with the chopped cilantro and dill and lightly stirred it into the rice pilaf. To finish it off, I topped each serving with a peeled and sliced hard boiled egg.

It was super easy, I would definitely make this again. Maybe next time I'll try it with smoked salmon.