🔗 Share this article

So, hear me out: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. Through culinary experiments, realizing that using a cover produces a humid atmosphere for cooking the egg tops, resulting in perfectly cooked perfectly poached egg featuring set whites and flowing center. Direct oven heat of the oven acts stronger compared to steaming, often leading making dishes dry and harden the yolk. Presenting two flavorful bases to get started, encouraging customization. The first features an easy golden coconut sauce, while the merguez ragu is a riff on classic tomato-baked eggs, or simply put, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (featured)

Preparation A quick 10 minutes
Cook 55 minutes
Serves Two servings

Olive oil
One medium onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, grated ginger
Golden spice
Toasted cumin
6-8 curry leaves
Creamy coconut
Chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
Fresh eggs
2 green finger chillies, finely sliced, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, add the chopped onion seasoned with salt, fry until softened. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, let them sizzle, occasionally stirring for three to four minutes, add coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Heat until boiling, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Add salt to taste, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon forming small wells in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Dust each egg with salt, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat briefly, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, top with fresh herbs plus chili slices, and serve.

Spicy Sausage Sauce with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time 45 minutes
Yields Two

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
Harissa paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
Four eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
Fresh parsley, minced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, wedge-cut, for serving

Use a heavy pan on a medium heat. Pour in oil once hot, remove the skins from the sausages and break off pieces of the meat into the pan, almost like little meatballs. Reduce heat, brown the meat slowly, extracting spicy fats. Move sausage pieces while cooking, to brown evenly.

When golden, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, increase to medium heat and cook, stirring, briefly, when fragrant, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, add seasoning heat to simmer. Turn down the heat to low and leave to blip away about 20 minutes. The ragu will reduce, intensify in color, while the oils split and rise to the top.

With a spoon forming wells within sauce, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes gently, until the whites are set and yolks warmed.

Turn off stove, garnish with peppers, parsley and yogurt, and oil splash, and serve with lemon wedges.