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Let me explain: the best baked eggs are made without baking. Through culinary experiments, I found that simply adding a lid creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, delivering a gently cooked delicately prepared egg with firm whites and a warm, runny yolk. The harsh, arid temperature of the oven acts stronger compared to steaming, and has a tendency making dishes dry and harden the yolk. Here are two sauce options as a jumping-off point, but get creative. The first features an easy turmeric coconut curry, whereas the spicy sausage sauce puts a twist on eggs in purgatory, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Steamed Eggs (shown above)

Preparation A quick 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Yields Two people

Olive oil
1 onion, trimmed and minced
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
Turmeric powder
Cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Creamy coconut
400g tin chickpeas
Fresh basil, and additional for topping
Four eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, as garnish

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot over medium-high flame. Pour in some oil, add the chopped onion seasoned with salt, sauté for several minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally for three to four minutes, pour in creamy liquid and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, allow to cook slowly for 30-35 minutes, until thick and golden. Season with salt, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon to create four little pockets within the sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid, gently heat for two to three minutes, until egg whites firm with yolks still runny. Turn off stove, finish with a few extra basil leaves and thinly sliced finger chillies, and serve.

Spicy Sausage Sauce with Tangy Peppers Baked Eggs

Prep 10 min
Cook 45 minutes
Yields Two

Oil
Spicy lamb sausages
Harissa paste
Cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Salt
4 eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, roughly chopped
Fresh parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, sliced into wedges, for serving

Heat a skillet at moderate temperature. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits into the skillet, resembling tiny meatballs. Reduce heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Move sausage pieces as they cook, so they colour on all sides.

Once browned, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic to the pot, turn up the heat to medium sauté while stirring, for several minutes, until the mix smells fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Add tomatoes, salt to taste let it bubble. Reduce to low heat and leave to blip away about 20 minutes. The ragu will reduce, intensify in color, as oils separate.

With a spoon to create four little pockets in the sauce, break eggs in. Dust with salt lightly salted, cover skillet. Simmer briefly gently, until whites firm with yolks runny.

Take off the heat, garnish with peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and a drizzle of oil, with lemon on side.