oooo....how romantic...

I had never heard of this dish, Kedgeree, but if it has curry in it - I’m in. This is also something you could top with anything - traditionally it’s topped with smoked haddock (I don’t think there’s a lot of access to Salmon in India) but we smoked salmon, as the recipe calls for. The smoking process also produced this great outdoor cooking smell - it reminded me of being in Africa, smelling the charcoal cooking the rice dishes. The tea smoking gave the fish a great taste, but we also had to pop it under the broiler to finish cooking. Oh, you should probably open your windows while smoking - the dog started to get a little disoriented in the aromatic smoke. I also hard boiled eggs for the first time, under the supervision of my friend Jess B. I’ve never been a fan of the hard boiled egg, and really have only started eating eggs (not in cookies) when I went to college. They came out perfectly, and I mildly enjoyed it. It still doesn’t beat a fried or poached egg though. Update: Jess B (Native New Mexican) tasted the red chili I bought at Whole Foods for the Huevos Rancheros, and she approved of it, even though she said something was missing, and we didn’t use enough of the jar for our meal… sorry Jess. While it’s not the best, she said she could at least acquire some to hold her over until her next shipment of chili from home. Ok, back to Kedgeree. We ate all the salmon at dinner, but I had rice leftover and scrambled some eggs, and fried the rice with the eggs for breakfast this morning. I also added a little chopped bacon on top - why not….? This is a great dish, easy, and smoking looks fancy too…. perfect for impressing your next party. Here’s the recipe:

3 Tablespoons butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 1/4 cup basmati rice ( I used Jasmine b/c that’s what I had)

1 tablespoon curry paste ( I used yellow curry paste, but there’s also green and red)

4 cardamom pods, crushed ( I used ground cardamom - 2 tablespoons)

1 cinnamon stick, crushed

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 1/4 cup fish or veg stock

2 hard-cooked eggs

salt and pepper

For the tea smoked salmon

1 lb salmon fillet (with skin)

1/2 cup rice

1/2 cup tea leaves ( we just tore open 2 English Breakfast tea bags)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion, and saute for 5 minutes. Add the rice, curry paste, and spices, stir once, then add the stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over very low heat for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, to smoke the salmon, cut the fillet into 4 equal pieces and sprinkle with seasoning (salt and pepper). Line a wok with a sheet of foil and put the rice, tea leaves and sugar on the foil at the bottom. Arrange a rack over the top (I used a non stick grill pan for veggie for this - you could try a roasting pan rack as well - just make sure your fish won’t fall through). Cover and heat for 5-8 minutes (without the salmon) until the mixture starts smoking. Slide the fish fillets, skin-side down, onto the rack, cover, and smoke over high heat for 4 minutes. Remove the wok from the heat but leave undisturbed for a further 3 minutes. Remove the fish and keep it warm.

3. Skin and flake the salmon into large pieces and add to the spiced rice. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix briefly with a fork. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Served topped with the egg and sprinkle with chopped herbs.

** The cookbook (Easy Breakfast and Brunch) says this serves 6 - I think with only 1lb of salmon, it’s more like 4 with enough rice for 5-6. The 3 of us ate the whole pound of salmon easily. 6 people seems a little ambitious.