Imagine that you are in Edwardian England and a rather wealthy person! As part of the many breakfast choices would be this dish, originating in India and traditionally composed
of hard-boiled egg, fish and rice. You can just taste the opulence, great to breakfast like a king – but this meal is great for a light brunch, served on wheat free bread also – really yummy! I often like to imagine if I was alive in Edwardian times as I love the dresses and the lifestyle – but the reality would be more likely to involve wearing plain clothes, clogs and working in the mills in Lancashire, as my relatives did!
This dish is very mild, no spicy hot flavours, just like a fishy korma – some of the Lancashire men I spent my early working career with, used to call chicken korma ‘chicken soft lad’ and were merciless in their deriding of any man choosing this option when going out for a curry after the pub! However its good and mild for dodgy guts, so enjoy your fish ‘soft lad!’ If you have coeliac disease then check your spices have not been contaminated with gluten! My version of this wonderful dish is as follows:
Ingredients
175g of smoked Haddock
175g of Basmati Rice
4-5 dry green cardamom pods
5cm strip of cassia bark
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder
1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
300 mls of lactose free milk
4 teaspoons of cornflour
2 hard boiled eggs.
Method
Poach the haddock in lactose free milk until cooked, drain off the milk and retain for the
sauce. Flake the fish and remove any bones and retain till later.
Add the rice to a pan, cover with water about 2 cm above the rice and add crushed green cardamom, cassia bark, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, when boiling turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Remove cardamon pods and cassia bark. Cool.
Hard boil eggs for 10 minutes and cool under running water, remove shell and cut into slices – retain till later.
Add oil to a pan with the rest of the spices and cook till the spice aroma is released. Add cornflower to the pan and cook for about a minute. Slowly add milk to the pan – this will form a thick paste initially and needs to be mixed well to avoid lumps. After 1/3 – 1/2 of the milk has been added you can add the rest quickly and bring to the boil and stir till thickened.
Add the sauce to the rice, add fish and mix well, taste and add more seasoning if needed. Warm in the microwave prior to serving, serve with sliced eggs on the top.
If you are interested in Edwardian food check out the following website http://downtonabbeycooks.com/
Clinical Alimentary 
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