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Consider this: the most delicious egg dishes don’t ever hit the oven. Through culinary experiments, I found that simply adding a lid produces a humid atmosphere that gently cooks the eggs, yielding tender perfectly poached egg with a tender white and a warm, runny yolk. The harsh, arid temperature in conventional ovens proves harsher versus moist heat, and has a tendency 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, while the merguez ragu puts a twist on eggs in purgatory, essentially, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (shown above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Serves 2

Extra virgin oil
One medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
Salt
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
Fresh ginger root, minced ginger
Golden spice
Cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Coconut milk
Chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, finely sliced, to serve

Heat a cast-iron pan on a medium-high heat. Drizzle olive oil, incorporate onions with some salt, sauté for several minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, allow to cook, occasionally stirring briefly, add coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Heat until boiling, reduce to a simmer, allow to cook slowly for 30-35 minutes, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

With a spoon’s back forming small wells in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Dust each egg lightly salted, place a lid on the pan, gently heat briefly, when whites are cooked and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, finish with a few extra basil leaves and sliced chilies, then serve immediately.

Spicy Sausage Sauce and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation Quick prep
Cook Under an hour
Yields Two

Olive oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, sliced thin
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Four eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, roughly chopped
Chopped herbs, diced
Creamy yogurt
Fresh lemon, wedge-cut, to serve

Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot at moderate temperature. Drizzle olive oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages and pinch small amounts adding to pan, almost like little meatballs. Lower temperature, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Move sausage pieces as they cook, so they colour on all sides.

Once browned, mix in spices and garlic to the pot, adjust to moderate flame and cook, stirring, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, and garlic softens. Pour in tomato contents, salt to taste and bring to a simmer. Lower to gentle simmer and simmer slowly for 20 minutes. The ragu will reduce, become richer and darker, as oils separate.

With a spoon forming wells across base, break eggs in. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, place lid on pan. Simmer briefly over a low heat, until the whites are set and yolks warmed.

Turn off stove, finish with chopped pickled peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, plus oil drizzle, and serve with lemon wedges.