If you shared the kitchen with me many mornings recently, you’d see me playing with eggs. Soft boiled, hard boiled, on toast or in an egg cup, eggs brighten my morning. And now sunny side up eggs my way.
My latest addiction started when we brought home some leftover crab fried rice from September in Bangkok in New Haven, Connecticut. Sunny Side Up Eggs My Way was born.
Rice topped with a fried egg isn’t new. And it wouldn’t have been a favorite of mine because the smell of frying egg whites turns me off my feed. To enjoy sunny side up eggs, I need a different approach. I reheat rice or cooked vegetables or fry some fresh mushrooms or scallions in a small pan. When the rice is warm and crisp and the vegetables are cooked, I make a divot in the center and crack an egg into it. I add a few tablespoons of water then I pop on the lid. In a couple of minutes the egg is runny-set and ready to slide onto my plate.
Here is the result, a perfectly glazed-over egg nestled in a bed of rice and peas.
Either you’ve already mastered this type of breakfast or you will in no time. It’s hearty enough for lunch or a light supper too. Leftover rice, vegetables, sautéed mushrooms, peas, Bell peppers or diced potatoes all work. (Hash with a fried egg is a cousin to my version of sunny side up eggs.) Or anything else you can think of.
Some pointers:
- Use a frying pan small enough to hold one portion comfortably. This helps make your breakfast presentation-worthy.
- Use enough oil. A teaspoon will help the vegetables cook and soften.
- Use moderate heat to start. I feather the heat between medium and medium high. Increase the heat when all of the rice and vegetables are heated through.
- Once it is heated through, cook the rice in the frying pan without stirring long enough so that a thin crust forms on the bottom. This adds to the pleasant contrast of textures when eating.
- Find the best eggs you can. We always get ours from artist and friend David Brown, whose chickens produce the most flavorful eggs we’ve ever tasted. (Local readers can find him at the Chester Sunday Market. His wildflower bouquets are lovely too.)
Here is the original dish of reheated crab-fried rice with a perfectly cooked egg on top.
(No, steps 1 through 5 are not missing. Darn if I can't fix the numbering in this recipe. Bear with me please as my tech Gurus try to sort it out.)
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive or neutral oil
1 scallion, trimmed, chopped
1 cup chopped spinach OR ½ cup cooked greens OR other vegetables
½ - ¾ cup cooked rice
Hot sauce such as Sriracha or chili crisp, if desired
Chopped fresh parsley or chives
Directions
- Heat the oil in a 6 – 8-inch frying pan. Add the scallion, spinach and any other chopped raw vegetables you’re using. Sauté for 2 – 3 minutes until the vegetables are softened and lightly browned.
- Stir in the cooked rice. Sauté stirring occasionally until heated through. Let sit for a minute or two until a light crust forms on the bottom.
- Make a well in the center of the cooked vegetables and rice. Add a tablespoon of water. Crack the egg into the center. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes until the egg yolk is still runny yet glazed over on top.
- Remove the lid. Slip a spatula under the rice and egg and slide onto a small plate.
- Serve the sunny-side-up egg with hot sauce and a bunch of chopped green herbs.
