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. 
 

Sweetcorn Fritters and Yoghurt Dip

This recipe is adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course book and makes a lovely lunch or light dinner during the summer months. The original recipe can be found on page 212.

Makes 12 decent-sized fritters  |  Each fritter is 2 Weight Watchers ProPoints each


FRITTERS:
120g gluten-free flour
2 eggs
3 tbsp skim milk
50g low-fat ricotta
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tin of creamed sweetcorn
Salt and pepper to taste

YOGHURT DIP:
250g low-fat natural yoghurt
1/2 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
Juice of half a lemon (or lime)
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1. Mix together all the dip ingredients and set aside so the flavours can develop.
2. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Do not, at a later stage of the recipe, freak out (like I did) when you see little black specks in your batter. It ain't bugs, it's pepper. 
3. Make a well in the middle of your sifted flour. Mix together the milk, eggs and ricotta, then pour into the well. 
4. Whisk, gradually bringing in the flour from the sides until it forms a smooth batter. Make sure it's not too sloppy though, because nobody likes a sloppy fritter. Nobody. 
5. Stir in the chopped spring onions, chili, coriander and sweetcorn and stir well. Check the consistency and if it's too wet, add a bit more flour. See above assertion about sloppy fritters.
6. Heat a large frying pan and put in 1 tbsp oil in. Wipe the oil around with a paper towel to make the pan non-stick but not too oily. 
7. Put one heaped dessert spoons of the mixture per fritter into the hot pan and flatten gently with the back of the spoon so you don't end up making fried muffins.
8. Fry in batches for 2ish minutes each side, depending on how hot your pan is. The first fritter you make WILL be a disaster and look appalling but hang in there and the rest will get better as you go along. 
9. Serve with the yoghurt dip and a zero ProPoints salad of lettuce, sliced raw zucchini and tomato.