Ingredients
Ingredients
50g butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cardamom pods, split open
¼ tsp turmeric
1 small cinnamon stick
2 fresh bay leaves or 1 dried
450g basmati rice
1 litre/1¾ pints chicken stock or fish stock, ideally fresh
750g un-dyed smoked haddock fillet
3 eggs
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 lemon, cut into wedges, to garnish
Direction
Melt the butter in a large saucepan (about 20cm across), add the onion and cook gently over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened but not browned. Stir in the cardamom pods, turmeric, cinnamon stick and bay leaves, then cook for 1 minute. Tip in the rice and stir until it is all well coated in the spicy butter. Pour in the stock, add 1?2 teaspoon salt and bring to the boil, stir once to release any rice from the bottom of the pan. Cover with a closefitting lid, reduce the heat to low and leave to cook very gently for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, bring some water to the boil in a large shallow pan. Add the smoked haddock and simmer for 4 minutes, until the fish is just cooked. Lift it out on to a plate and leave until cool enough to handle. Hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes. Flake the fish, discarding any skin and bones. Drain the eggs, cool slightly, then peel and chop. Uncover the rice and remove the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods if you wish to. Gently fork in the fish and the chopped eggs, cover again and return to the heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the fish has heated through. Gently stir in almost all the parsley, and season with a little salt and black pepper to taste. Serve scattered with the remaining parsley and garnished with lemon wedges.
