Chilli tuna kedgeree
There are a gazillion interpretations of kedgeree and this one skews toward the dry end of town; essentially it's a subcontinental fried rice, if you will. The original contained just rice, eggs, smoked fish, onion, butter and parsley, with the curry powder ( the best bit!) coming later. We’ve seen iterations using sour cream or pouring cream stirred through at the end and eewww. That’s a hard no from us, but you do you.
We prefer our kedgeree spicy so do tend to go heavy on the chilli, ginger, curry etc, but ease off these if you prefer less heat or are feeding kids. Sometimes we add cooked peas or baby spinach leaves at the end to make the dish more balanced in the veggie department… 5 a day, and all of that. While canned, drained chilli tuna is delicious and economical, gorgeous chunks of smoked kahawai are pretty hard to beat too so go that route by all means instead.
SERVES 4
400g (2 cups) basmati rice
2½ tbsp vegetable oil, or ghee
1 large onion, sliced
2½ tbsp grated or finely chopped ginger
small handful curry leaves, plus extra, for serving
2 tbsp hot curry powder, or to taste
2 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
1 tsp garam masala (optional)
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (optional)
2 x 185g cans chilli tuna, drained and flaked (or 370g flaked smoked kahawai)
4 hard boiled eggs, quartered
1-2 medium green chillis, sliced
handful coriander leaves
sweet mango chutney, and/or brinjal chutney, to serve
lime wedges, to serve
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then drain well. Combine the rice with 750ml (3 cups) cold water in a large saucepan, then bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and stand, covered, for 5 minutes for the rice to finish cooking.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes or until softened. Add the ginger and curry leaves, then cook for 2 minutes, stirring, or until the ginger has softened a bit. Add the dry spices, stir to mix well, then cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the cooked rice, then using a large metal spoon, stir everything together to combine well and coat the rice evenly in the spice mixture. Stir in the tuna and egg, season with salt and pepper, then cover with a lid and remove from the heat. Stand for 5 minutes or until the tuna and egg are heated through. Scatter over the chilli, coriander and extra curry leaves, then serve with the chutneys and lime wedges for squeezing over.
