Kedgeree

Not to be confused with the Indian village of Khijri or Kedgeree.
Kedgeree
Place of originIndia and Scotland
Main ingredientsRice, smoked haddock, eggs, parsley, butter or cream
  • Cookbook: Kedgeree
  •   Media: Kedgeree

Kedgeree (or occasionally kitcherie, kitchari, kidgeree, kedgaree, kitchiri, khichuri, or kaedjere) is a dish consisting of cooked, flaked fish (traditionally smoked haddock), boiled rice, parsley, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder, lemon juice, salt, butter or cream, and occasionally sultanas.

The dish can be eaten hot or cold. Other fish can be used instead of haddock such as tuna or salmon,[1] though these are not traditional. In Scotland, kippers are often substituted for the smoked haddock.[2][3][4]

In India, khichari is any of a large variety of legume-and-rice dishes. These dishes are made with a spice mixture designed for each recipe and either dry-toasted or fried in oil before inclusion. This dish was heavily adapted by the British, resulting in a dish almost unrecognisably different from the original khichari.

History

Kedgeree is thought to have originated with the Indian rice-and-bean or rice-and-lentil dish khichuṛī, traced back to 1340 or earlier.[5] Hobson-Jobson cites ibn Battuta (c. 1340) mentioning a dish of munj (mung beans) boiled with rice called kishrī and cites a recipe for khichdi from the Ain-i-Akbari (c. 1590). In Gujarat, where khichdi remains popular, the lentil and rice dish is usually served with kadhi, a spiced yogurt dish that can be mixed with the khichdi. Khichdi is usually not prepared with fish in Gujarat, although fish is sometimes eaten with khichdi in coastal villages where seafood is plentiful. According to Hobson-Jobson, while fish is eaten with kedgeree, the use of the term for "mess of re-cooked fish ... is inaccurate".[6] The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (d.1707) was fond of the Alamgiri Khichdi, a variety featuring fish and boiled eggs.[7]

It is widely believed that the dish was brought to the United Kingdom by returning British colonials who had enjoyed it in India and introduced it to the UK as a breakfast dish in Victorian times, part of the new introduced cuisine.[8][9] The dish was listed as early as 1790 in the recipe book of Stephana Malcolm of Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire.[10] The National Trust for Scotland's book The Scottish Kitchen by Christopher Trotter notes the Malcolm recipe and other old examples, expressing the belief that the dish was devised by Scottish regiments hankering for the tastes of India.[11]

By the 19th century, kedgeree had become a sophisticated breakfast or brunch dish in England, appearing, for example, in a Saki short story, "A Bread and Butter Miss."[12] By the late 19th century, it was served as a breakfast dish for children in upper-class Victorian households.[13] By 1930s and 1940s in Britian, kedgeree was a popular and affordable breakfast among the working classes and in institutional settings because it could incorporate leftovers; rather than fresh fish, smoked or tinned fish was often used.[14][15] Kedgeree followed a similar trend in the United States, where it was first popularized as a breakfast dish in Victorian times and would later be served at the White House during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency (1933–1945).[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Recipe for kedgeree". Traditional Scottish Recipes. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  2. ^ McEvedy, Allegra (February 11, 2010). "Allegra McEvedy's kipper kedgeree recipe". The Guardian.
  3. ^ "Kipper kedgeree". Delicious Magazine.
  4. ^ Martin, James (2007). "Kipper kedgeree recipe from Saturday Kitchen Best Bites". BBC Food.
  5. ^ Lobscouse and Spotted Dog; Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels, Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas, Norton, 1997, p. 12. ISBN 978-0-393-32094-7
  6. ^ Yule, Sir Henry. "Hobson-Jobson entry on Kedgeree". Hobson-Jobson: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) New ed. edited by William Crooke, B.A. London: J. Murray, 1903
  7. ^ Shankar, Kartikeya (2021-07-17). "Tale of the humble 'Khichdi'". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  8. ^ David, Deirdre (1999). "Review of Imperial Chintz: Domesticity and Empire". Victorian Literature and Culture. 27 (2): 571. ISSN 1060-1503.
  9. ^ Beetham, Margaret (2008). "Good Taste and Sweet Ordering: Dining with Mrs Beeton". Victorian Literature and Culture. 36 (2): 401. ISSN 1060-1503 – via JSTOR.
  10. ^ "Recipe of the month from the Library's collections: Kedgeree". National Library of Scotland. October 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  11. ^ Trotter, Christopher (2004). The Scottish Kitchen (1st ed.). London: Aurum Press. p. 49. ISBN 1-85410-979-0.
  12. ^ Munro, H. H. (1998). "A Bread and Butter Miss". The Complete Saki. Penguin. p. 433. ISBN 978-0-14-118078-6.
  13. ^ Vigne, Thea (1975). "Parents and Children 1890-1918; Distance and Dependence". Oral History. 3 (2): 6. ISSN 0143-0955 – via JSTOR.
  14. ^ MacIver, O. Alsager (1939). "What Shall We Have for Dinner?". Social Work (1939-1970). 1 (1): 40. ISSN 2398-3973 – via JSTOR.
  15. ^ "Some Points On Communal Feeding". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4228): 83. 1942. ISSN 0007-1447 – via JSTOR.
  16. ^ Henderson, Sylvia M. (2001-11-01). "Kedgeree". Gastronomica. 1 (4): 91–92. doi:10.1525/gfc.2001.1.4.91. ISSN 1529-3262 – via JSTOR.
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