Chilli Crisp Fried Eggs On Rice

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp chilli crisp oil, jarred
• 2 x 250g pre-cooked jasmine rice pouches
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 1 tbsp soy sauce, to serve
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Toss the sliced cucumber with the rice vinegar, sesame oil and a generous pinch of salt. Leave it for 5 minutes — the salt draws out water and the vinegar sharpens it up while you get on with the rest.
2. Bring a small pan of well-salted water to the boil and simmer the edamame for 3 minutes until tender and bright green. Drain.
3. Heat the rice pouches according to pack, then fork the edamame through so they're evenly scattered. Taste — a pinch of salt now if the rice needs lifting.
4. Heat the chilli crisp oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat until it shimmers and the kitchen smells of chilli and garlic — about 60 seconds. Watch it: chilli crisp has garlic in it already, and if the oil goes past shimmering into smoking, the garlic turns bitter and the whole jar's worth of flavour is lost.
5. Crack the eggs straight into the hot oil and fry for 2–3 minutes. You're after lacy, golden, blistered edges where the white meets the oil, set whites, and yolks still loose and trembling. Don't crowd the pan — two eggs at a time if your pan is small, or the oil temperature drops and you'll steam them instead of crisping them.
6. Build the bowls: rice and edamame first, a fan of pickled cucumber tucked alongside.
7. Slide the fried eggs on top and spoon every last drop of the chilli crisp oil from the pan over the eggs and rice — that oil, now carrying egg-white crispies and chilli, is the sauce.
8. Finish each bowl: scatter the spring onions and toasted sesame seeds, drizzle the soy sauce across the rice, and squeeze a lime wedge over the lot. Taste — the soy carries most of the salt, but the lime is what ties it together.