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Let me explain: the best baked eggs are made without baking. When testing these recipes, realizing that using a cover generates steam that gently cooks the eggs, yielding tender delicately prepared egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive compared to steaming, and has a tendency to dry everything out and overcook the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, but get creative. The first features an easy coconut turmeric blend, and the second offers a merguez ragu is a riff on classic tomato-baked eggs, essentially, spicy tomato eggs.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (shown above)

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

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, minced garlic
10g fresh ginger, grated ginger
Golden spice
Cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves
200ml coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
Four eggs
Fresh chilies, julienned, for serving

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Add a shot of olive oil, incorporate onions with some salt, and cook for five to six minutes. Mix in garlic, ginger, and spices, allow to cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes, then tip in the coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Let it bubble, reduce to a simmer, and leave it to tick over for half an hour, until thickened and deep yellow in colour. Adjust seasoning, mix in fresh basil.

Employ a utensil forming small wells in the sauce, add eggs individually. Season eggs with a little salt, cover the skillet, and cook on a low heat briefly, until egg whites firm and yolks warmed. Remove from heat, top with fresh herbs and thinly sliced finger chillies, ready to enjoy.

Spicy Sausage Sauce with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time Under an hour
Yields Two

Oil
Merguez sausages
Spicy paste
Cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Salt
Four eggs
1 handful pickled peppers, coarsely cut
Chopped herbs, finely chopped
Creamy yogurt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, as garnish

Heat a skillet over medium flame. Drizzle olive oil once hot, peel sausages forming small bits into the skillet, like mini balls. Lower temperature, brown the meat slowly, extracting spicy fats. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan while cooking, so they colour on all sides.

When golden, mix in spices and garlic to the pan, adjust to moderate flame fry with mixing, briefly, until the mix smells fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Add tomatoes, add seasoning let it bubble. Lower to gentle simmer cooking gently for twenty minutes. Ragu thickens, thicken and deepen in colour, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil making indentations across base, then crack an egg into each. Dust with salt with salt, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes on low flame, when eggs set and the yolks just warm.

Turn off stove, finish with chopped pickled peppers, parsley and yogurt, and oil splash, with lemon on side.