7/10/2008

Lychees and Kedgeree

Lychees, it's summer and that's the good news. I'm sitting here writing with a bag of frozen lima beans in the back of my pants, trying to get some relief from an incredible lower back displacement. Tomorrow is chiropractor appointment #2, so I'm asking for prayer. Also a recipe for something wonderful to do with unfrozen lima beans. Maybe just steamed with some butter?

Which reminds me, last week, for the Fourth of July we had potato salad, among other things. I boiled too many potatoes and had a full container of extra. What popped into my head is the real mystery. I don't believe in akashic records so it's probably even spelled wrong, but maybe the ancient Celts in my DNA were speaking to me? (a joke folks, just a joke) Anyway, the word kedgeree came to me, mash those potatoes up and add that slice of smoked salmon from the freezer, with sauteed onions in butter. Now I looked it up, so I do know that kedgeree is from India. And there's supposed to be rice with boiled eggs. But hey, this is my version, and there were a lot of Scotch, Irish and English over there for a time, if I'm not mistaken. I added some minced dill and basil as well, salt, pepper, more melted butter and dumped it all into a nice ceramic pot, topped with grated cheddar and baked at 350 C for about 30 minutes. We all liked it a lot. That last piece is now gone.

2 comments:

Sunny said...

oh it sounds yummy. Could you find the origins of the word Kedgeree?

Claudia said...

Yes, from Wikipedia:
Kedgeree (or occasionally kitcherie, kitchari or kitchiri) is a dish consisting of flaked fish (usually smoked haddock), boiled rice, eggs and butter. It originated amongst the British colonials in India hence was introduced to the United Kingdom as a popular breakfast dish in Victorian times, part of the then fashionable Anglo-Indian cuisine.[1] During that time, fish was often served for colonial breakfasts so that fish caught in the early morning could be eaten while it was still fresh. It is rarely eaten for breakfast now, but is still a popular dish.

Most recipes now contain curry powder (or just turmeric) and coriander leaves (cilantro). Sometimes cream or yogurt are stirred into the rice after cooking to make the dish richer. Early recipes however do not usually have these more recent innovations, using parsley instead.

The name is derived from an Indian dish (khichdi in Hindi; also known as Pongal in Tamil) made from rice, lentils, onions and spices. Vegetarian and vegan versions of kedgeree exist, based far more closely on the original khichdi recipes using rice and either masoor dal (red lentils) or moong dal (green lentils).