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Consider this: the best baked eggs are made without baking. During recipe development, realizing that using a cover creates a steamy environment that gently cooks the eggs, resulting in perfectly cooked perfectly poached egg featuring set whites and a warm, runny yolk. The intense, dry heat from baking is much more aggressive versus moist heat, typically causing making dishes dry resulting in firm yolks. Presenting two flavorful bases as a jumping-off point, but get creative. Option one involves a straightforward turmeric coconut curry, and the second offers a merguez ragu is a riff on traditional spicy eggs, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Turmeric Coconut Curry Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Preparation A quick 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Yields 2

Olive oil
One medium onion, trimmed and minced
Sea salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
Golden spice
½ tbsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
Four eggs
2 green finger chillies, finely sliced, for serving

Heat a cast-iron pan at moderate-high temperature. Pour in some oil, incorporate onions seasoned with salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, then tip in the coconut milk along with chickpeas and liquid. Heat until boiling, reduce to a simmer, let it simmer for half an hour, when sauce is rich and yellow. Add salt to taste, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon making four indentations across the base, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg with a little salt, then cover the pan with a lid, and cook on a low heat for two to three minutes, until egg whites firm and yolks warmed. Turn off stove, finish with a few extra basil leaves and thinly sliced finger chillies, then serve immediately.

Spicy Sausage Sauce and Pickled Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation 10 minutes
Cook 45 min
Yields Two

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
Harissa paste
Toasted cumin
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Canned tomatoes
Salt
Fresh eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Drizzle olive oil when heated, remove the skins from the sausages and break off pieces into the skillet, like mini balls. Reduce heat, cook until golden, so it renders out all that spicy, flavour-packed fat. Stir merguez as they cook, for even browning.

Once browned, mix in spices and garlic into the skillet, increase to medium heat fry with mixing, 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 for 20 minutes. The ragu will reduce, become richer and darker, as oils separate.

With a spoon to create four little pockets in the sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs lightly salted, cover skillet. Cook for two to three minutes on low flame, when eggs set with yolks runny.

Turn off stove, top with pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, plus oil drizzle, and serve with lemon wedges.