Gordon's Kedgeree

According to the all-knowing power that is Wikipedia, kedgeree was brought back to the UK from India by British colonials who liked to eat it as a breakfast dish. It's another "use up the left-overs from brekkie" such as the perennial fave bubble and squeak but is typically less well known, especially if you didn't grow up eating it. I only heard of kedgeree a couple of years back when it was made on one of the many cooking shows I became obsessed with on the BBC Lifestyle channel when I lived in Taiwan. I believe it was a MasterChef challenge: if you can't cook a kedgeree from scratch then you don't deserve to be here kind of thing. I took this to heart, knowing that one day I hoped to be considered a Good Cook, that this was a vital piece of knowledge I was apparently lacking. 

Quite apart from it being a part of your repertoire, this dish is absolutely delicious. It's pretty easy to make and is one of those really comforting dishes that you just want to hunch over with a strong, hot cup of tea within reaching distance and just savour. Gordon's original recipe on page 67 of the Ultimate Cookery Course has already made some modifications to make it lighter, but I've gone a little bit further for the healthiest version possible. Even then, this is not really one to crack out when you're running out of ProPoints. I've got to be honest with you, this is not exactly a light eat but I promise you that it's worth it. Bulk out a smaller portion with some salad or boiled broccoli and you'll be fine. 

Serves 4-6  |  12-14 ProPoints per serve (depending on how many people share it!)

KEDGEREE:
2 bay leaves
700g undyed smoked fish*
2 tsp cooking oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
Thumb-sized knob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tomatoes, de-seeded and chopped
150g long grain rice
Juice of 2 lemons
100g low-fat natural yoghurt

TO SERVE:
2 handfuls of chopped fresh coriander
1 red chilli, finely chopped (deseed it unless you're really brave!)
One soft-boiled egg per person
Salt and pepper

* Gordon suggests haddock, hot smoked trout or mackerel. For those of us living downunder, I've used smoked kahawai and its been lovely.

1. Pin bone your fish to make sure nobody gets any nasty surprises. 
2. Make sure you don't eat all of the smoked fish whilst doing step 1.
3. Heat 750ml of water with the bay leaves in a frying pan and bring to a simmer. Chuck in the fish, even if its already cooked, and simmer for five minutes until its lovely and flaky. Take out the fish with a slotted spoon/fish slice and set aside. Keep the water, but chuck the leaves. 
4. In a second pan, heat the oil and fry off the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes but make sure they're not colouring - you want them sweet not burned. Add in the ginger, curry powder, mustard seeds and tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the onions have softened. 
5. Put all the rice in and stir it around to coat it in the flavoursome amazingness in your pan. Then gradually add the lemon juice and fishy water you saved earlier, one ladle at a time. Stir around well after adding each ladleful and wait for it to be absorbed. 
6. This adding and stirring process should take about 20 minutes.
7. In between the liquid being absorbed by the rice, pull the skin carefully off your fish and flake the remaining meat. Again, don't eat it all before it makes it into the dish. Or maybe it's just me who has a serious smoked fish addiction? 
8. Once all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice, add the flaked fish and the yoghurt and stir well. Take it off the heat at this point to make sure the yoghurt doesn't start to cook. Because that would be gross. 
9. To serve, divvy up the kedgeree between the bowls and sprinkle on the coriander and chilli, top with an egg each and crack over some salt and pepper.