This Trick From Ottolenghi Test Kitchen Will Change The Way You Fry Eggs - Exclusive
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Frying eggs is, for many, a morning ritual performed with little originality or imagination. We all know how to do it: Crack eggs into a hot greased pan and cook until the yolks have reached your desired degree of doneness, perhaps flipping halfway through. If exciting flavors come into play, they're usually added after the egg is cooked in the form of fun toppings or sauces.
However, there are ways to jazz up even the most mundane of kitchen preparations. In fact, adding excitement to basic dishes is basically the motto of Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. This organization brings together talented cooks to create recipes inspired by the philosophy of its founder, renowned chef Yotam Ottolenghi. The test kitchen has even coined a verb, "Ottolenghify," which means to use global flavors or interesting techniques to contribute a signature Ottolenghi spin to familiar foods.
We talked with Noor Murad, the test kitchen's head chef, and Yotam Ottolenghi about their new book, "Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things." In our exclusive interview, the chefs discussed a recipe from the book that uses a cool technique to make fried eggs even better.
Flavor the eggs while they cook, not after
The recipe in question is for turmeric fried eggs with tamarind dressing — you can even see the recipe on the Amazon page for "Extra Good Things." It involves heating up oil with ground turmeric and then frying the eggs in the spice-infused oil. The turmeric oil not only adds flavor to the eggs but also gives them a wonderful yellow color. The dish was inspired by Noor Murad's childhood. "In Bahrain, we put a lot of spices into our eggs. When I was little, I would often have fried eggs with turmeric in the oil to give it those beautiful golden edges."
If you're not a big fan of turmeric or just want some variety, you can infuse different spices into your egg-frying oil. Yotam Ottolenghi said, "If you wanted to go a bit more red, mild chilies and some paprika would get you a slightly different version of the theme, and they would look more red than yellow."
The most important thing to keep in mind to make this technique work is to control the heat of your pan. Per Murad, "The main thing with these spices, especially any powdered spices, is you want to wake them up by heating them in oil — not heating them so much that they burn, but heating them enough to impart flavor to whatever you're cooking." Experiment on your own to see which spices you like to infuse your fried eggs with; your breakfast will never taste the same.
"Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things" is in bookstores now. You can buy it on Amazon.