Turmeric coconut curry and merguez ragu: Ben Lippett's recipes for baked eggs

"So, hear me out: the best baked eggs don't ever hit the oven When testing these recipes, I found that simply adding a lid creates a steamy environment to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked, perfectly poached egg with a tender white and a warm, runny yolk. The intense, dry heat of the oven is much more aggressive than steam, and has a tendency to dry everything out and overcook the yolk."

"Set a 25cm heavy cast-iron pot or frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add a shot of olive oil, toss in the onion and a pinch of salt, and cook for five to six minutes, until the onion is starting to crisp and caramelise. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, leave to sizzle, stirring occasionally, for three to four minutes, then tip in the coconut milk and the chickpeas and their tin liquid."

"Use the back of a spoon to create four little pockets in the sauce, 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 the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Take off the heat, finish with a few extra basil leaves and"

Cooking eggs covered on the stovetop produces a steamy environment that gently cooks the tops, yielding tender whites and warm, runny yolks. A lid prevents the dry, aggressive heat of the oven from drying and overcooking the yolks. Two sauce ideas are offered as bases: a turmeric coconut curry with chickpeas and a spicy merguez ragu riff on eggs in purgatory. The turmeric coconut curry is built from onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds, curry leaves and coconut milk simmered until thick, pockets made for eggs, then covered and cooked two to three minutes.

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