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Consider this: the most delicious egg dishes are made without baking. During recipe development, I found that simply adding a lid produces a humid atmosphere for cooking the egg tops, delivering a gently cooked soft-cooked egg with firm whites and flowing center. The intense, dry heat from baking acts stronger than steam, and has a tendency to dry everything out and overcook the yolk. Here are two sauce options to get started, encouraging customization. One is a super-simple coconut turmeric blend, and the second offers a merguez ragu is a riff on classic tomato-baked eggs, or, to the likes of you and me, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (shown above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook 55 minutes
Serves Two people

Extra virgin oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt
Two garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
10g fresh ginger, grated ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
Cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Coconut milk
Chickpeas
A few basil leaves, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
2 green finger chillies, julienned, to serve

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Drizzle olive oil, add the chopped onion with some salt, sauté for several minutes. Incorporate aromatics and spices, let them sizzle, stirring occasionally for three to four minutes, add coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, and leave it to tick over for 30-35 minutes, until thick and golden. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

Employ a utensil forming small wells across the base, then crack an egg into each. Dust each egg with a little salt, place a lid on the pan, and cook on a low heat briefly, when whites are cooked and the yolks just warm. Turn off stove, garnish with more basil and thinly sliced finger chillies, and serve.

Merguez Ragu with Tangy Peppers Steamed Eggs

Prep 10 min
Cooking time Under an hour
Yields Two

Oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
Harissa paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, minced garlic
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs
Tangy peppers, roughly chopped
1 small handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp thick Greek yoghurt
Fresh lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Drizzle olive oil once hot, take off sausage casings and break off pieces of the meat into the pan, resembling tiny meatballs. Turn down the heat, then slowly brown the sausagemeat, extracting spicy fats. Roll the merguez pieces around the pan as they cook, to brown evenly.

Once browned, add the harissa, cumin seeds and sliced garlic into the skillet, adjust to moderate flame fry with mixing, for several minutes, until the mix smells fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Pour in tomato contents, season with salt let it bubble. Turn down the heat to low and simmer slowly about 20 minutes. Sauce will thicken, thicken and deepen in colour, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Use the back of a spoon making indentations across base, then crack an egg into each. Dust with salt lightly salted, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes gently, until the whites are set with yolks runny.

Remove from heat, top with pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, plus oil drizzle, with lemon on side.