What do I eat? I mean what do I really eat? What do I cook for my family after a day of work? Several years ago my eldest daughter Rosa had a blog about our daily food, called Rosa 365 Eats (it’s still in the air, just click on the link). For a year she posted what we had for dinner or lunch and took a picture of what was served at our kitchen table. No fancy pics, just snapshots, like in a dairy or a scrapbook. Posting every day was a challenge and when she finished the job, she was certainly relieved. But to me it felt somewhat empty, I missed reading about what was on our table every day.
I understand she is too busy with leading her 18-year old life, so I decided to pick it up myself. Nothing fancy, just a simple recipe with one or two pictures. I’m not going to post every day either. Sometimes I’m just too busy or the food is not worth writing about.
Yesterday we had Kedgeree, a traditional British dish. I love smokey and spicy flavors, so I make it every once in while. Since smoked haddock is not widely available in the Netherlands, I always use smoked mackerel. It’s just as good. The original recipe calls for curry powder, but since we ran out of it, I used a spicy garam masala. It turned out very well. I also like to add some extra veggies, like peas, broad beans, spinach, broccoli, or whatever is sitting in my fridge.
Serves 3-4
Action Time: 30 minutes
1 1/2 cup/ 9 oz/ 250 g (brown) basmati rice
4-6 eggs
1 whole smoked mackerel
3 tomatoes
1-2 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
4 cm fresh ginger, peeled en finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 heaped tbsp (hot) curry powder or garam masala
100 g spinach
a handful of green peas or broad beans (frozen), optional
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 spring onions, sliced
a handful of cilantro
1. Prepare the rice according to the instructions on the packet. Spread the rice over a baking tray and let it cool a little (this way the dish won’t get sticky). Boil the eggs about 8 minutes, drain and cool under cold running water. Remove the skin and bones of the mackerel. Quarter the tomatoes en remove the seeds. Chop the tomatoes.
2. Heat the ghee or oil in a skillet. Add the ginger, garlic, and onion en cook for 3-4 minutes over a medium heat. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes. Add the curry powder or garam masala and stir for a further few minutes until the mixture is fragrant. Stir in the rice, followed by the mackerel and cook several minutes until everything is well mixed.
3. Add the spinach and if using green peas or broad peas, and cook until the spinach is wilted and the peas or beans are soft and warm. Add some lemon juice (I like to add a lot). Season with salt and pepper.
4. Peel the eggs and cut them in half. Arrange the eggs on top of the rice. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Garnish with spring onions and cilantro.