Vegeree

After a small break from the blog due to moving house, work-related madness, going on holiday and then returning to more work-related madness (it's been an overwhelming three weeks), I present to you: Vegeree. Since becoming vegetarian nearly 5 years ago, I often get asked by my meat eating friends what I miss the most, and I always answer that I don't really miss anything (which often gets a raised eyebrow and a look of disbelief, but there you go). Whilst I don't really miss meat or fish, there are certain dishes which it took me some time to make good 'substitutes' for. I was never a big fan of fish, and kedgeree was pretty much the only fish dish I used to eat, so when I became vegetarian I just assumed there was no substitute and left it at that. Until I got hold of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's 'Veg Everyday' book that is, which I'm sure I've banged on about in previous blog posts. 

He uses aubergines in his recipe, but they happen to be the one vegetable I cannot stand. I will eat aubergine if necessary (i.e. somebody has cooked it for me), but will never cook it for myself. He suggested complementing the aubergines with courgettes, one of my favourite vegetables, so I just used that instead. I imagine peas would work well too. I also added in the tomatoes because when I used to cook kedgeree I always garnished it with tomatoes and they give a nice contrasting coolness to the spicy rice. The egg is ideally almost hard boiled, but with just a touch of soft yoke - though you can of course do the eggs however you prefer.

A lack of photos in this post I'm afraid, as it was dark in my kitchen and I struggled to get any decent ones. This recipe is very wordy and sounds complicated, but actually it's very straightforward and I'm simply giving you very detailed instructions on how I cook it - you can play around with this recipe how you want until you get the timings right for however you like to do things.

Serves 2


Ingredients
1 cup rice

2 courgettes

2 onions - any type, I used one red, one white

3 cloves garlic

2 cardamom pods

1 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp curry powder

salt

chili powder (optional)

fresh chillies (optional)

2 eggs

2 tomatoes

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Chop onions, garlic, fresh chillies (if using) and courgettes (or whatever veg you are using). Add to a roasting dish, coat in sunflower oil or butter, and sprinkle 1 tbsp of garam masala and 1 tbsp curry powder over the top, as well as some salt, and chilli powder if desired. Shake the baking dish until everything is coated. Roast for around 20 - 30 minutes until cooked, checking regularly and shaking the dish so as to ensure the veg cooks evenly.

 

3. Meanwhile, cook the rice, along with two cardamom pods and 1 tsp turmeric, however you usually do. I usually prefer the reduction method but in this case the end result comes out a bit too sticky so I cook it with more water than needed and drain.

4. To cook the eggs, you can either try and time it so that they are done right at the end of the meal, or prepare them whilst your rice is cooking, and accept they will have cooled slightly at the end. I generally do this as it's easier to peel them. To cook the eggs: boil a pan of water, add the eggs and boil for 7 minutes. As soon as time is up, rinse them for a minute or so immediately in cold water to prevent them cooking further, and set aside.

5. Once the veg is done, remove from the oven, and fry quickly in a pan with a bit more oil. Drain the rice (if you have not already done so), remove the cardamom, and add to the veg in the pan along with one more tbsp garam masala, stirring to combine. The courgettes should collapse slightly, to give a rather sticky texture.

6. Serve up the rice, chop the tomatoes into quarters and garnish, and last of all, peel the eggs, cut in half and garnish. Serve immediately, seasoning with salt and black pepper to your tastes.