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

Consider this: the best baked eggs are made without baking. When testing these recipes, realizing that using a cover creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, yielding tender soft-cooked egg featuring set whites and flowing center. The harsh, arid temperature in conventional ovens proves harsher than steam, often leading to dehydrate ingredients and overcook the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces to get started, but get creative. Option one involves a straightforward turmeric coconut curry, while the merguez ragu puts a twist on classic tomato-baked eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (featured)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Serves 2

Olive oil
1 onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
Two garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Toasted cumin
Aromatic leaves
Creamy coconut
400g tin chickpeas
Fresh basil, and additional for topping
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, finely sliced, to serve

Heat a cast-iron pan at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, toss in the onion with some salt, fry until softened. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, allow to cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, add coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Heat until boiling, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Add salt to taste, incorporate basil.

Employ a utensil forming small wells in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs lightly salted, cover the skillet, gently heat briefly, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, garnish with more basil and thinly sliced finger chillies, ready to enjoy.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook 45 minutes
Serves Two

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
Spicy paste
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
Tomato base
Salt
Fresh eggs
Tangy peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, as garnish

Heat a skillet over medium flame. Drizzle olive oil once hot, take off sausage casings and pinch small amounts of the meat into the pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Lower temperature, cook until golden, extracting spicy fats. Move sausage pieces while cooking, to brown evenly.

After browning, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic to the pan, adjust to moderate flame fry with mixing, briefly, when fragrant, with garlic cooked. Add tomatoes, season with salt let it bubble. Lower to gentle simmer cooking gently for twenty minutes. Sauce will thicken, intensify in color, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil forming wells within sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs with a little salt, place lid on pan. Heat for minutes over a low heat, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Turn off stove, garnish with peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and a drizzle of oil, accompanied by lemon.