Kedgeree is the sort of dish that sounds like it was invented by the British Empire but actually owes more to Indian khichri than any fish and chip shop on the coast. The word itself comes from the Hindi “khichri” — a rice and lentil dish that has been keeping people fed for centuries — with the British adding smoked fish and eggs to make it their own. By the 19th century it was firmly established as a proper British breakfast, complete with curry powder that the East India Company had been shipping home for decades.
The recipe below isn’t a museum piece. It’s a working version that uses whatever smoked fish you can find, leans a bit hard on the curry powder (because that’s half the fun), and tops the lot with eggs cooked exactly how you like them. In this case, poached — they slip into the rice like they belong there, which, apparently, they do.
Ingredients
- 200g basmati rice, rinsed
- 2 smoked haddock fillets (or smoked trout if you’re feeling fancy)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp butter (or ghee if you want to lean into the heritage)
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp curry powder, plus extra for serving
- 200ml fish stock (or chicken stock if that’s all you have)
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 eggs, for poaching
- Handful of chopped coriander, plus leaves for garnish
- Lemon wedges, for serving
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Method
- Put the rice in a saucepan with plenty of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 10-12 minutes until tender, then drain and set aside. Don’t skip the rinse — it stops the rice from turning into a porridge.
- While the rice cooks, poach the smoked haddock. Place the fillets in a saucepan, cover with milk, and gently simmer for 5-7 minutes until the flesh flakes easily. Lift out with a slotted spoon, flake into chunks with your fingers, and discard the skin and bones. Keep the milk — you’ll use it later.
- In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat and gently cook the onion for 8 minutes until soft and golden. No rush — caramelised onion is what takes this from “meh” to “actually quite good.”
- Add the turmeric and curry powder to the onion, stir for 30 seconds until fragrant, then tip in the drained rice. Pour in the fish stock (or the reserved milk with a splash of water) and gently heat through. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper.
- Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolks and the smoked fish, folding carefully so the fish keeps its shape. Stir through half the coriander. The residual heat cooks the yolks into a creamy sauce — don’t skip this step or you’re just making flavoured rice.
- While the rice is sorting itself out, poach the eggs. Bring a shallow pan of water to a gentle simmer, add a splash of vinegar, and swirl to create a vortex. Crack each egg into the centre and cook for 3 minutes for a runny yolk, or 4 minutes if you prefer something firmer. The vinegar helps the white set but use it sparingly — too much and you get a chemistry set.
- Spoon the kedgeree into warm bowls, top with a poached egg, scatter over the remaining coriander leaves, and serve with a good squeeze of lemon and extra curry powder on the side.
The whole thing takes about 25 minutes if you’ve got your act together, and it’s the sort of dish that works equally well for breakfast, lunch, or dinner — because eggs and rice and fish are basically the universal fallback meal that every civilisation has arrived at independently at some point.
