Here in Malaysia, cooking eggs sunny side up is also known as telur mata kerbau or telur mata lembu, literally translated as cow’s eye eggs! Maybe because the eggs, when cooked, look like cows eyes, although one with yellow pupils!
This method of preparation is one of my favourite ways of eating eggs and it only requires two ingredients to make: eggs and butter, or oil if you prefer. I especially like to eat these fried eggs with nasi lemak. You know that moment when cut into the yolk and it oozes and soaks into the rice… and then scooping it out with some anchovy sambal… mmm perfection!
Let me show you how it’s done.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp butter or oil
Making sunny side up
- Crack two eggs in a small bowl.
- Heat butter on medium low heat in a small pan or skillet. You don’t need too much, just a little bit will do.
- Once the butter has melted and the pan is hot, carefully slide the eggs into your pan. If your pan is hot enough, the areas of the egg whites touching the pan will start to cloud over quite quickly. If you need to, increase the heat to medium.
- Let the eggs cook for about 1 to 2 minutes. There is no need to touch the eggs or push them around in the pan.
- Your eggs are ready when the whites are solid and completely cooked through. The perfect sunny side up has a firm white but soft yolks.
- Once your eggs are cooked, gently slide them off from the pan onto a plate. Serve immediately.
Extra tips
- If you prefer you like your yolks more thoroughly cooked, cover your pan with a lid while the eggs cook. The trapped heat will help cook your yolks.
- If you’re serving these eggs to guests as part of a meal, fry your eggs one by one. It will look a lot nicer when serving. If you’re eating the eggs on your own, then cook them two by two.
- You’ll notice that there’s a difference when using freshly bought eggs compared to eggs that have been sitting in the fridge for a week or more. The structure of the egg whites are a lot looser in older eggs, while fresher egg whites have more structure and may not spread in the pan as much. They both still taste the same though! This will be especially noticeable if you’re frying the eggs one by one in a larger pan.
Let’s have some sunny side up for our meal today! And you can definitely have it on its own for breakfast too. Besides nasi lemak, it also goes well with mee or nasi goreng. Try it! For more details on how to prepare this dish, check out my YouTube video or watch it below. I’ve also shared a few more egg recipes that I hope you will enjoy.
Video courtesy of Dapur Chef Zam.
