Coconut Turmeric Curry and Spicy Sausage Sauce: The Chef's Oven-Free Egg Dishes Cooking Methods

Let me explain: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. During recipe development, discovering that covering the pan creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, delivering a gently cooked soft-cooked egg with a tender white and a warm, runny yolk. Direct oven 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 coconut turmeric blend, and the second offers a merguez ragu is a riff on traditional spicy eggs, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation A quick 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Yields 2

Olive oil
One medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, minced ginger
Golden spice
½ tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
Fresh eggs
Fresh chilies, thinly cut, to serve

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Add a shot of olive oil, toss in the onion with some salt, fry until softened. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, mixing now and then for three to four minutes, then tip in the coconut milk along with chickpeas and liquid. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, let it simmer for 30-35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

With a spoon’s back making four indentations within the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with salt, cover the skillet, and cook on a low heat for a few minutes, until egg whites firm with yolks still runny. Remove from heat, top with fresh herbs and thinly sliced finger chillies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep Quick prep
Cook Under an hour
Serves Two portions

Olive oil
Spicy lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Toasted cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Salt
Fresh eggs
Tangy peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, sliced into wedges, as garnish

Use a heavy pan over medium flame. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages and pinch small amounts of the meat into the pan, like mini balls. Lower temperature, brown the meat slowly, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan as they cook, to brown evenly.

After browning, mix in spices and garlic to the pan, increase to medium heat fry with mixing, for several minutes, until aromatic, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, add seasoning heat to simmer. Turn down the heat to low and leave to blip away about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, become richer and darker, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil to create four little pockets across base, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid. Simmer briefly gently, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Remove from heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and a drizzle of oil, accompanied by lemon.