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Let me explain: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. Through culinary experiments, I found that simply adding a lid creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, yielding tender delicately prepared egg with firm whites and a warm, runny yolk. The harsh, arid temperature from baking acts stronger compared to steaming, often leading making dishes dry and harden the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as a jumping-off point, encouraging customization. Option one involves a straightforward golden coconut sauce, while the merguez ragu is a riff on traditional spicy eggs, or simply put, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Yields Two servings

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
Salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
10g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Turmeric powder
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
Chickpeas
Fresh basil, plus extra to serve
Four eggs
Green chilies, julienned, as garnish

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Add a shot of olive oil, incorporate onions seasoned with salt, fry until softened. Incorporate aromatics and spices, allow to cook, stirring occasionally briefly, add coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Heat until boiling, reduce to a simmer, and leave it to tick over for half an hour, when sauce is rich and yellow. Adjust seasoning, incorporate basil.

Employ a utensil making four indentations within the sauce, add eggs individually. Dust each egg lightly salted, place a lid on the pan, and cook on a low heat for a few minutes, until the whites are set and yolks warmed. Remove from heat, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep Quick prep
Cooking time 45 min
Yields Two

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
Harissa paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
Tomato base
Fine sea salt
4 eggs
Pickled peppers, roughly chopped
Fresh parsley, minced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, wedge-cut, as garnish

Use a heavy pan on a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil once hot, remove the skins from the sausages and pinch small amounts into the skillet, almost like little meatballs. Turn down the heat, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Move sausage pieces as they cook, for even browning.

After browning, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic to the pot, adjust to moderate flame sauté while stirring, briefly, when fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Pour in tomato contents, season with salt let it bubble. Reduce to low heat and simmer slowly about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, become richer and darker, while the oils split and rise to the top.

With a spoon making indentations within sauce, break eggs in. Season eggs with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Heat for minutes gently, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Take off the heat, top with pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, plus oil drizzle, accompanied by lemon.