Spanish Eggs

I call it Spanish eggs, but it’s probably about as Spanish as Bizet’s Carmen. It’s just that the dish reminded my of Spain. I do miss the travelling! Treat the family (or just yourself) to a great tomato egg tomorrow morning, why don’t you? By the way, the paprika I am using is from our friend Aida’s shop and it’s quite the best there is; sweet, smoky and with a nice little spicy kick. (https://www.mysybaritas.com/)

Eggs with Fried Tomatoes and Paprika

• 1 medium tomato
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp Spanish smoked paprika
• salt & black pepper
• a pinch of sugar
• 1½ Tbsp olive oil to fry
• a little chopped cilantro or parsley for the top

You will need a small frying pan with a lid (or any lid that will cover it) to make this. Slice the tomato into 4-5 slices. You should have just enough to cover the base of your pan. Check the quality of your tomato by eating the end bit. If you live in Malaysia, chances are your tomatoes may look nice and red, but they will not be sweet at all. If so, sprinkle a little bit of sugar on your slices. Be careful though, no one should be able to tell that you sugared your tomatoes.

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Lightly salt and pepper the tomatoes on one side only. Sift the paprika into the breadcrumbs. I know it’s one more thing to wash, but sifting the paprika will make your life much easier, as it tends to clump a bit. There is no need to salt the breadcrumb mix. In fact, I think salting breadcrumbs is a bit of a waste of time, unless you have extremely fine salt. The normal fine salt is heavy and will just fall to the bottom of the plate, so I prefer to salt the tomato rather than the crumbs.

Break the eggs into a bowl, add two pinches of salt and a good grind of black pepper and beat the eggs until they froth lightly. Heat the olive oil in your small pan. Lightly press both sides of the tomato slices into the breadcrumbs and fry one side of the tomatoes on high heat. Once golden, turn them over and immediately add the eggs. Once the side of the eggs starts to set, turn the heat to low, cover the pan and leave to cook for 4 minutes.

The cooking time depends a lot on your stove, but once you have figures out the time, you can pretty much rely on it. I set my phone alarm to 4 minutes exactly and it works out just perfect every time. What you’re looking for are eggs that are just set, with a little uncooked egg at the top. This will be partially set by the residual heat once you turn the egg over, as you must.

To turn the pan unto the plate, take the pan off the heat (obviously!), cover it with your plate and deftly turn both plate and pan. As I myself am not particularly deft, I like to use two kitchen cloths to hold the pan and plate in place. I have tried just turning the thing holding on to the handle of the pan, but it’s mostly a disaster, so…

A light sprinkling of chopped cilantro and you’re all set for a great breakfast. I eat this one without toast. I find it’s hearty enough to support me all the way to lunch, but if I was eating toast with it, I’d butter it fresh out of the toaster and then I’d rub a halved garlic clove over it.

It is every bit as delicious as it looks