Meera Sodha’s egg recipes: kimchi and cheddar okonomiyaki and Thai fried egg salad

Kimchi and cheddar okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is a pancake straight from the streets of Osaka. The name means “grilled as you like it”, and I took that to heart, so today’s recipe is made using kimchi and cheddar, which is how I enjoy it. Osaka has a large Korean population, so it’s not unusual to see kimchi on menus, but I have no one but myself to blame for the cheddar. The combination is a dream, with the creamy cheese taking the edge off the sour, hot kimchi. Eat as is, with the pak choi salad and dressed with Kewpie mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce, or as you like it. You can buy Kewpie mayo in many large supermarkets and in Japanese and east Asian food shops, where you’ll also be able to pick up the optional okonomiyaki sauce.

Prep 10 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 2

For the okonomiyaki
300g kimchi – I like Kim Kong Kimchi
4 large eggs
½ tsp fine sea salt, or to taste

150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
100g mature cheddar, grated
100g spring onions (about 6), whites and greens separated, finely sliced and rinsed
Rapeseed oil

For the topping
250g pak choi, quartered and finely chopped
1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp sweetened rice-wine vinegar
3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
½ tsp fine sea salt
Kewpie mayonnaise, to finish
Okonomiyaki sauce, to finish (optional)

Set a sieve over a small bowl, tip in the kimchi, juice and all, and using the back of a spoon squeeze out as much juice as you can. Weigh out 180g drained kimchi, put it on a chopping board, and measure three and a half tablespoons of the strained juices into a large bowl. Put any remaining kimchi and juice back in the jar. Roughly chop the drained kimchi.

Whisk the eggs, salt and 90ml water (or six tablespoons) into the kimchi juice, then add the flour and baking powder, and whisk again until you have a smooth batter. Add the chopped kimchi, grated cheddar and spring onion whites (reserve the greens for the topping), and mix again.

Put two tablespoons of rapeseed oil in a nonstick frying pan on a medium heat. When it’s very hot, ladle in a quarter of the batter and cook for four minutes. Flip over the pancake, then cook for another two and a half minutes on the other side, then transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper. Repeat until you’ve used up all the batter, stacking the pancakes on top of each other as you go.

To make the topping, tip the chopped pak choi into a medium bowl, add the chopped green parts of the spring onions, sesame seeds, vinegar, oil and salt, and mix well.

To serve, place two okonomiyaki on each plate and crisscross the top with Kewpie mayonnaise. Top each one with a handful of the pak choi salad, then dig in.

Thai-style fried egg salad

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This is one of the fastest ways to cook an egg in the east: the tops are basted using the hot oil from the pan, meaning there’s no waiting for the runny bit around the yolks to cook. As a bonus, you create fantastic texture: crisp, golden, lacy and bubbled whites, and barely cooked yolks. But the best bit about this recipe isn’t even the speed, or the texture; it’s the joy of the hot and sour Thai dressing, which mixes with the yolks and rice in the most excellent way. I’d recommend cooking some jasmine rice first, to eat alongside, because it will stay warm for up to an hour. Not all vegetarian and vegan fish sauces are equal, but Thai Taste makes a great one.

Prep 15 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 2

2½ tbsp lime juice, from 2–3 limes
2½ tbsp vegetarian fish sauce
2½ tsp soft light brown or palm sugar
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 bird’s eye chilli, stalk discarded, flesh finely sliced
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely sliced
1 banana shallot, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut into long, thin strips
Rapeseed or sunflower oil
4 eggs
1 handful fresh coriander, leaves picked
Cooked jasmine rice, to serve

First, make the dressing. Put the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar in a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the garlic, chilli, spring onion, shallot and a tablespoon and a half of water, mix again and set aside.

Next, line a plate with kitchen paper and get ready a fish slice or slotted spoon. Pour ½cm of oil into a medium nonstick frying pan and set it over a medium heat. When the oil is too hot to hold a hand over from 10cm away, gently break in two of the eggs – they might spit, so beware! Feel free to turn down the heat a little if it’s too intense, but the eggs should bubble up. Cook for a minute to a minute and a half, basting the yolks carefully with the hot oil so the translucent egg turns white and the edges go lacy, golden and crisp. (This timing will give you a very runny yolk; for a firmer yolk, cook for two minutes.) Transfer the eggs to the lined plate using the slotted spoon, then repeat with the remaining eggs.

When you’ve fried all the eggs, use the slotted spoon to transfer them to a lipped serving plate, then pour over the dressing. Scatter over the coriander and serve immediately with freshly steamed jasmine rice.

• The egg salad recipe is an edited extract from Dinner: 120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes for the Most Important Meal of the Day, by Meera Sodha, published by Penguin at £27. To order a copy, go to guardianbookshop.com