🔗 Share this article

Let me explain: the best baked eggs never require an oven. When testing these recipes, realizing that using a cover creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, yielding tender delicately prepared egg with a tender white plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive versus moist heat, typically causing making dishes dry and harden the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as a jumping-off point, but get creative. Option one involves a straightforward turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on traditional spicy eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation 10 min
Cook Just under an hour
Serves 2

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
10g fresh ginger, minced ginger
Turmeric powder
Cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Coconut milk
Chickpeas
Fresh basil, with more for garnish
Four eggs
2 green finger chillies, julienned, for serving

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium-high flame. Add a shot of olive oil, toss in the onion seasoned with salt, fry until softened. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, let them sizzle, occasionally stirring for a few minutes, pour in creamy liquid including chickpea can contents. Heat until boiling, reduce to a simmer, let it simmer about 35 minutes, until thick and golden. Season with salt, incorporate basil.

Employ a utensil forming small wells within the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs with salt, cover the skillet, simmer over low heat for a few minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, top with fresh herbs and thinly sliced finger chillies, ready to enjoy.

Spicy Sausage Sauce and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time Under an hour
Yields Two portions

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Toasted cumin
2 garlic cloves, sliced thin
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs
Tangy peppers, coarsely cut
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, diced
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, wedge-cut, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium flame. Add two tablespoons of olive oil once hot, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits into the skillet, almost like little meatballs. Reduce heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan while cooking, to brown evenly.

When golden, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic into the skillet, increase to medium heat and cook, stirring, for several minutes, when fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Tip in the tomatoes, salt to taste let it bubble. Turn down the heat to low cooking gently about 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, intensify in color, as oils separate.

With a spoon making indentations across base, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes gently, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Take off the heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and oil splash, with lemon on side.