{mellow curry flavored rice with pieces of tender fish throughout eaten with a warm boiled egg is so comforting it’s even good for breakfast}

It was the day super strength, one of my many powers, was debunked. One by one my, invisibility, x-ray vision, and flight were also disproven that year. But the first is always the hardest, and that fateful day ruminates still.

It ended badly, very badly. There were tears upon realizing I was unable to lift the full grown man over my head and launch him into outer space. Then public humiliation as I spun out of control frantic with denial, shattering into a thousand pieces both a store’s glass display case, and my fragile delusions of grandeur. Like I said, it ruminates.

Don’t worry about me though, I was resilient and still had a staggering paylaod of imaginary friends plus a teeny-tiny duplicate universe that lived inside my stomach with which to terrorize the neighborhood. That plus my extraordinary hoola hoop, pogo stick, and fashion design skills were adequate distractions against an unrealistic super hero obsession.

[awkward segue] When I think of my childhood, memories of stewed fish also come to mind. Specifically salt cured fish, cooked caribbean style, with tomatos and onions (perhaps a little curry) and then eaten over rice. I brought this little wooden box of salted codfish home about a month ago and it’s patiently been laying in wait in the depths of my freezer since. Meditating like a yogi.

When I saw Mae’s recipe for Kedgeree over at Rice and Noodles I was reminded of these flavors and the Codfish sprung to life and promptly reported for duty. Then suddenly, a dusty old can of curry powder jumped off the spice rack and began obnoxiously marching around the kitchen banging on his lid clank clank clank.

The only way to stop the madness it seemed was to cook this Salted Codfish and Rice Curry, mmm fishy rice!

1 package or 1 lb of salted codfish
1 c long grain rice
2 c fish or chicken stock
1-2 ts curry powder
1/2 ts white pepper
milk to soak the fish
1 sm onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
a few hard boiled eggs, quartered
fresh parsley to garnish, finely chopped
1 tb butter and 1 turn around the pan with olive oil

The day before you cook, you must prepare the fish by soaking it in cold water for 24 hrs, otherwise it iwill be too salty. Change the water twice if you think of it, then submerge in milk for a few hours to take care of any remaining salty or fishy flavors. Drain and pat the filets dry with a paper towel before tearing the fish into chunks. Make sure you pick over it carefully to remove any skin or bones leaving only tender pieces. Give your cat a piece to certify the ingredient before moving forward.

Heat the butter and oil in a pan and saute onions and garlic until translucent. Add the shredded fish and cook over a medium flame for about 15 minutes. Taste a piece to check it’s cooked through and flakes easily. Add curry powder, however much you like, and pepper. Stir in the rice, cook for 5 minute, add stock, cover and simmer until the rice is cooked and the liquid evaporated. Fluff before serving with some wedges of egg and parsley sprinkled over the top.

{tags salted cod recipe}