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So, hear me out: the best baked eggs never require an oven. During recipe development, realizing that using a cover creates a steamy environment for cooking the egg tops, yielding tender soft-cooked egg with firm whites and flowing center. The harsh, arid temperature from baking acts stronger versus moist heat, and has a tendency making dishes dry and harden the yolk. I’ve given you two sauces to get started, encouraging customization. Option one involves a straightforward golden coconut sauce, while the merguez ragu puts a twist on traditional spicy eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (shown above)

Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking time 55 minutes
Serves Two people

Olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
10g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Turmeric powder
Toasted cumin
Curry leaves
Creamy coconut
Chickpeas
A few basil leaves, plus extra to serve
4 eggs
2 green finger chillies, thinly cut, for serving

Use a heavy skillet over medium-high flame. Drizzle olive oil, toss in the onion seasoned with salt, fry until softened. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally briefly, pour in creamy liquid along with chickpeas and liquid. Let it bubble, lower heat to gentle cook, and leave it to tick over about 35 minutes, until thick and golden. Add salt to taste, mix in fresh basil.

Employ a utensil making four indentations across the base, add eggs individually. Dust each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, gently heat for a few minutes, when whites are cooked and yolks warmed. Take off the heat, garnish with more basil plus chili slices, then serve immediately.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep Quick prep
Cook 45 minutes
Yields Two portions

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
4 eggs
Pickled peppers, coarsely cut
Chopped herbs, finely chopped
Greek yogurt
1 lemon, wedge-cut, to serve

Use a heavy pan over medium flame. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and, once it’s warm, peel sausages forming small bits of the meat into the pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Lower temperature, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Move sausage pieces during cooking, to brown evenly.

Once browned, incorporate harissa, cumin, and garlic into the skillet, increase to medium heat fry with mixing, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, and garlic softens. Tip in the tomatoes, add seasoning and bring to a simmer. Lower to gentle simmer and leave to blip away for twenty minutes. Sauce will thicken, thicken and deepen in colour, while the oils split and rise to the top.

With a spoon forming wells within sauce, break eggs in. Dust with salt with a little salt, place lid on pan. Simmer briefly gently, until whites firm and yolks warmed.

Take off the heat, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and oil splash, with lemon on side.