Kipper kedgeree

Is there any greater joy than pressing the tip of your knife into a softly poached egg and watching the golden yolk spill out onto your plate?  To me it's up there with opening a bag of freshly roasted coffee, just heavenly.

I'm afraid I never mastered the art of the perfectly round poached egg, but luckily for me slightly flat, ovalish shaped ones taste just as good.  I know it's customary to use hard boiled eggs in kedgeree but the lure of that rich, runny yolk wins over tradition with me every time.  This makes a good hearty breakfast for a cold winter's morning, but is so intensely savoury and full flavoured that it works just as well at lunch. 

Serves 2

1 cup basmati rice
½ cup petit pois or peas
2 kippers
4 spring onions, chopped
½ lemon
½ fresh red chilli, chopped
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp curry powder
3 tbsp chopped parsley
a large pinch mustard seeds

1) Rinse and drain the rice and place with the peas in a small pan with a tight fitting lid. Add 1½ cups of boiling water and put onto a high heat on the stove. As soon as the rice starts to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cook until the rice is tender, about 10 minutes.

2) Now grill the kippers over a medium heat for two minutes on each side, then remove the skin and flake the fish into large chunks.

3) Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok and fry the spring onions, chilli and spice for two minutes, then fluff up the rice and add to the pan. Stir the dish well to ensure all the grains of rice are coated in the spices, then remove from the heat, stir through the kippers and parsley, and squeeze over the juice of the lemon. You won't need to add extra salt but may want to grind over a little black pepper.

4) Poach the eggs until softly set, and serve with the kedgeree and an extra wedge of lemon.