Turmeric Coconut Curry and Spicy Sausage Sauce: The Chef's Baked Eggs Recipes

Consider this: the most delicious egg dishes never require an oven. Through culinary experiments, realizing that using a cover generates steam to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with firm whites and a warm, runny yolk. Direct oven heat in conventional ovens acts stronger compared to steaming, and has a tendency making dishes dry and harden the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces as a jumping-off point, encouraging customization. The first features an easy golden coconut sauce, 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 (featured)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Yields Two people

Olive oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
Creamy coconut
400g tin chickpeas
A few basil leaves, plus extra to serve
Fresh eggs
2 green finger chillies, julienned, for serving

Heat a cast-iron pan at moderate-high temperature. Add a shot of olive oil, add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt, sauté for several minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, allow to cook, occasionally stirring briefly, then tip in the coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Let it bubble, reduce to a simmer, let it simmer for half an hour, when sauce is rich and yellow. Season with salt, mix in fresh basil.

Employ a utensil making four indentations within the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Season eggs with a little salt, place a lid on the pan, simmer over low heat for a few minutes, until egg whites firm and yolks warmed. Remove from heat, top with fresh herbs plus chili slices, then serve immediately.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time 45 min
Yields Two

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Seasoning
Fresh eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
Creamy yogurt
Fresh lemon, wedge-cut, to serve

Use a heavy pan over medium flame. Pour in oil once hot, peel sausages forming small bits of the meat into the pan, almost like little meatballs. Turn down the heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan while cooking, to brown evenly.

After browning, mix in spices and garlic to the pot, adjust to moderate flame sauté while stirring, briefly, when fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Tip in the tomatoes, salt to taste heat to simmer. Lower to gentle simmer and simmer slowly about 20 minutes. Ragu thickens, intensify in color, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil making indentations across base, break eggs in. Season eggs lightly salted, cover skillet. Simmer briefly over a low heat, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Take off the heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and a drizzle of oil, accompanied by lemon.