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Consider this: the most delicious egg dishes are made without baking. When testing these recipes, I found that simply adding a lid creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked perfectly poached egg with a tender white and flowing center. The harsh, arid temperature from baking is much more aggressive versus moist heat, and has a tendency to dehydrate ingredients resulting in firm yolks. Presenting two flavorful bases as a jumping-off point, encouraging customization. The first features an easy coconut turmeric blend, whereas the spicy sausage sauce is a riff on traditional spicy eggs, or simply put, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (shown above)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook 55 min
Serves 2

Olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
10g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
Canned chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
Green chilies, thinly cut, as garnish

Heat a cast-iron pan at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, toss in the onion seasoned with salt, sauté for several minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, leave to sizzle, mixing now and then briefly, pour in creamy liquid and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Let it bubble, then turn down to a simmer, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Add salt to taste, mix in fresh basil.

Use the back of a spoon to create four little pockets across the base, add eggs individually. Dust each egg with salt, place a lid on the pan, gently heat for two to three minutes, when whites are cooked and the yolks just warm. Take off the heat, garnish with more basil and thinly sliced finger chillies, then serve immediately.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time Under an hour
Serves 2

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
Harissa paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Seasoning
4 eggs
Tangy peppers, diced
Fresh parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, as garnish

Heat a skillet over medium flame. Pour in oil once hot, take off sausage casings forming small bits of the meat into the pan, almost like little meatballs. Lower temperature, cook until golden, releasing flavorful oils. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan during cooking, for even browning.

Once browned, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic into the skillet, turn up the heat to medium fry with mixing, for several minutes, until the mix smells fragrant, with garlic cooked. Add tomatoes, salt to taste and bring to a simmer. Reduce to low heat cooking gently for 20 minutes. The ragu will reduce, thicken and deepen in colour, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Use the back of a spoon forming wells across base, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid. Simmer briefly on low flame, when eggs set with yolks runny.

Take off the heat, top with pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and oil splash, accompanied by lemon.