Sunny-side-up eggs with flax crunch and tomato chutney

One of the most popular breakfast dishes at my pop-up cafe, those in the know even asked us to rustle it up for lunch! In Ayurveda, eggs should not be eaten with meat, fish or dairy, so this is my answer to the British fry-up.

There’s a lot going on in this recipe and it’s quite heavy, so if your digestion is feeling off, remove one of the elements to simplify it and make sure that the egg whites are well cooked and the yolks are just runny, because this makes them easier to digest. You can prepare the chutney and flax crunch in advance, then cool and store in the fridge.

Serves 2

1 tbsp ghee, butter or coconut oil

4 medium eggs

pinch of sea salt

1 avocado

FOR THE FLAX CRUNCH

65g (½ cup) golden or brown whole flaxseeds

½ tsp sea salt

10g dulse, cut into small pieces with scissors

FOR THE TOMATO CHUTNEY

1 tbsp sunflower oil

500g tomatoes, skinned and deseeded (see here), chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp sea salt

1 tsp jaggery

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

8 fresh or dried curry leaves, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 To make the flax crunch, heat a frying pan and very lightly dry-toast the flaxseeds with the salt until they have a light aroma. Remove from the heat, toss through the dulse and set aside.

2 To make the tomato chutney, heat the sunflower oil in a pan. Add all of the remaining chutney ingredients to the pan. Stir to mix well and cook for 15 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down to a mush, then take the lid off and simmer off the excess liquid until you get quite a dry chutney.

3 Melt the ghee in a frying pan, crack in the eggs and season with a pinch of sea salt. Cook until the egg whites are cooked through but the yolk is still runny (if you tend to overcook the underside and undercook the top, try cooking the eggs with a lid on after the first minute or so).

4 Meanwhile, slice the avocado in half and de-stone. Scoop out the avocado and slice lengthways. When the eggs are ready, transfer them onto the plates. Arrange the avocado slices on top, sprinkle over the crunch and serve with a dollop of the chutney.

5 Once it has cooled, you can store the flax crunch in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of weeks – it adds texture, crunch and seaweed goodness to almost any meal. Store leftover chutney in the fridge for up to a week.

FEELING
VATA

Swap the flax crunch for dulse flakes or sunflower seeds.

FEELING
PITTA

Avoid eating too many egg yolks in one week.

FEELING
KAPHA

Enjoy occasionally – with cooked greens instead of avocado.