🔗 Share this article

So, hear me out: the most delicious egg dishes are made without baking. During recipe development, realizing that using a cover produces a humid atmosphere that gently cooks the eggs, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with firm whites and a warm, runny yolk. The harsh, arid temperature of the oven is much more aggressive than steam, often leading to dry everything out and harden the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as inspiration, but get creative. The first features an easy coconut turmeric blend, whereas the spicy sausage sauce reimagines classic tomato-baked eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Baked Eggs (shown above)

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time Just under an hour
Serves Two servings

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
Salt
Two garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, minced ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot on a medium-high heat. Pour in some oil, incorporate onions and a pinch of salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, let them sizzle, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, add coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, allow to cook slowly for 30-35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Season with salt, then stir in the basil leaves.

With a spoon’s back making four indentations in the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid, simmer over low heat for a few minutes, until egg whites firm with yolks still runny. Remove from heat, garnish with more basil and sliced chilies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time 45 minutes
Yields 2

Oil
Merguez sausages
Harissa paste
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Salt
4 eggs
Tangy peppers, coarsely cut
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
Creamy yogurt
1 lemon, wedge-cut, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot at moderate temperature. Pour in oil when heated, peel sausages and break off pieces into the skillet, like mini balls. Reduce heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Stir merguez during cooking, for even browning.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pot, turn up the heat to medium sauté while stirring, for three to four minutes, when fragrant, with garlic cooked. Add tomatoes, season with salt heat to simmer. Reduce to low heat and leave to blip away for 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, thicken and deepen in colour, as oils separate.

Employ utensil forming wells within sauce, add eggs individually. Dust with salt lightly salted, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes over a low heat, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm.

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