Kedgeree is an Anglo-Indian dish based on the comfort food of Southern Asia, khichdi. Traditionally eaten by wealthy Victorians for breakfast, it is now more commonly served at lunch or dinner. Quite right too, says I. Though I often have eggs first thing on a Sunday morning, though kippers are always my first choice for breakfast in Scottish hotels and though (having lived in Japan) I’m no stranger to rice in the morning, fish, eggs and rice altogether before noon seems like madness to me.
No wonder those Victorians were a chubby lot.
Making efforts to avoid said chubbiness, I prepared my kedgeree with much less butter than is usually used and extra green stuff. The result was a fresher, lighter dish of rice and fish than I’ve previously tasted and I preferred it this way.
My Lighter Kedgeree
(serves 2)
250g smoked haddock fillets
1 tblspn ghee or butter
1 onion, chopped roughly
100g basmati rice
1-2 tspn medium curry powder (to taste)
75g fresh or frozen peas
2 boiled eggs, chopped
4 spring onions, chopped
Small handful of parsley, chopped
Seasoning
Lemon wedges
- Place fish in a large pan and just cover with boiling water. Simmer very gently for three minutes. Remove fish from the pan and set aside to cool. Reserve cooking water.
- In a seperate pan, fry the onion gently in the ghee until soft. Stir in the rice and curry powder. Cook for another minute.
- Add 150ml of the cooking water to the rice and onion. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 5 mins. Add the peas, recover and continue cooking for another 5 minutes until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked. You may need to add a little more of the reserved liquid.
- Meanwhile, flake the fish and remove any bones.
- Add the fish to the rice and stir through gently. You may need to add a little more water to prevent scorching.
- Season carefully before serving topped with the boiled eggs and sprinkled with spring onion and parsley.
For those of you who are in a rich and indulgent mood, check out these recipes instead:
A Wee Bit of Cooking 
That’s a lovely looking Kedgeree Wendy. I usually find it a little too heavy myself. I can see that omitting a lot of the butter makes it much more appealing for a weeknight meal.
I agree with Helen – it’s a lovely-looking kedgeree. I made some last April (2007, that is) and blogged about it too. But I think I used more curry powder, as my resulting dish was much yellower (not a bad thing, I think:)
Looks lovely and anything that saves a few calories is good by me! Couldn’t eat it for breakfast though, definately a better lunch dish!
Helen – Thank you! 🙂
Pille – The curry powder I use doesn’t have as much turmeric in it as most, hence the lack of yellow rice. Yours looks lovely too. 🙂
Beth – Totally agree. Too much for breakfast.
What a wonderful recipe! I love kedgeree, but not for breakfast, I think. I’d prefer it for lunch or even a summer’s dinner.
Looks yummy. Believe it or not, finding smoked haddock (and paying for it) is difficult in this part of the world. Hmm. Now I’m thinking of substitutions that may work . . ..
Wendy, this is one of my faves. I usually use sockeye or pacific salmon. Yours looks fantastic.
Jen – Couldn’t agree more. 🙂
Christina – Any smoked white fish would work well. The oily ones would be good to but would really change the dish.
Syrie – Hello and welcome! I don’t know sockeye. Off to Google it now!
Thanks for the link honey. Kedgeree looks lovely and I will most certainly try it. You know, I didn’t even know what the dish was until I came here!!
Looks so fresh! Not sure I could do the fish in the morning, but by lunch, yep!
I’ve never had a proper kedgeree, although I’m rather fond of my improper one – made with salmon.
Someday, maybe I’ll be able to get the proper fish.
But, definitely, for dinner, not breakfast!
Mallika – No problem. I’ve had your recipe bookmarked for ages and ages and still haven’t tried it out. It does look perfect for a hangover though. 🙂
Deb – Me too. 🙂
Katie – Imagine it would be lovely with salmon too.
This is an interesting recipe, Wendy, I’ve not heard of this before, so thanks for teaching me something new. As for rice (coconut rice) in the morning, in combination with fried fish, eggs and even a spicy sambal anchovy sauce is an occasional weekend breakfast for me back in Singapore, so it’s not madness to me 😉
have a lovely weekend!
Nora
Yeah, not so good at breakfast…but at any other time of the day, whoopee!
this is similar to a smoked mackerel pilaf which i make – i must give your version a try for a change. thanks wendy
Nora – That sounds lovely. But for lunch! 😉
Lucy – Agreed. 🙂
Abby – Adore smoked mackerel. Will have to try that out.
“No wonder those Victorians were a chubby lot.” Oh, I love that line and the kedgeree.
Hi Wendy I really like your blog and have tagged you for a meme. Hope that’s ok!
What a delicious version of one of my favourite dishes. I haven’t had it for ages though. I agree that it seems a little much for breakfast – I love it as a supper dish.
I adore kedgeree! Though I often make a much simpler version of only rice, smoked fish, and egg. Fit for a breakkie! 😀
Susan – Well, they were! 😉
Angela – Thank you so much! Will get to it later in the summer. 🙂
Antonia – This is the first time I’d made it in a long time too. Way overdue.
Maninas – Oooh, you’re brave. It’s all too much for me first thing.
I adore this dish and made it last friday, which turns out to be the day you blogged this, for my parents when I was on a quick trip back to NZ. I love making it for them when I am there because you can get so many different kinds of smoked fish from the supermarket (unlike here in Melbourne). This time I used smoked Hoki but I will make it with kingfish, trout…you name it if it is smokey and fishy I’ll give it a go. I use about twice as much curry powder and slip in some vegetables such as small florets of broccoli, green beans, grated carrot – all sweated away in a little oil with a diced onion. I’ve managed to get the fat content down this time to a tablespoon of vegetable oil to begin with, then a tablespoon of butter at the end to mix all the flavours through.
I’ve even made a vegetarian version with smoked tofu plus a hint of smoked paprika.
Check out my blog for more variations if you are interested.
AOF – I certainly will do. I’ve made it with tofu before too but really like your idea of using smoked paprika. Especially since I have a way too large tin of it in the cupboard!
This site really has all the information and facts I needed concerning this subject and didn’t know who to ask.