Singapore Style Traditional Breakfast in Jiffy - Eggs and Toast

Introduction:

 

 Eggs and Toast with Kaya (Egg Jam) and Butter or with Butter and sugar has always been my childhood food.  At times, I would even have it for breakfast in a row.  Many Singaporeans like it too, judging from the success (and also number) of the many franchises of "Yat Kun Coffeeshop" and "Killiney coffeeshop", this can be found in every coffeeshop in Singapore as well.  This has almost become "National Food" for Singapore.  I guess people like it because it brings back childhood memory.  For me, I hardly patronise the coffeeshops cause I simply find the breakfast too expensive.  For a buttered slice of toast sliced in half and small cup of coffee and 2 eggs, I have to pay between $2.50 to $4.00, where I can cook for my family at a much smaller price, and anyway I like to have it at home.

 

Here I share how I prepare the breakfast, brush my teeth, all in a jiffy in approximately (15 min - 20 min) for a morning for my family of four.

 

Recipe Name:  Soft Boil Eggs and Toast with Kaya and Sugar
Serves : 3-4

Time for preparation: 15 min - 20 min

 

Steps for preparation are

1. 
   
   Fill a saucepan with sufficient water to cover the eggs and set it on a stove for boiling.  You should have significantly more water so the temperature will not fall too much.  You need the heat to cook the eggs.
2. 
   
   Take out the eggs, I usually have 2 eggs per person.  They should be fresh and at room temperature.  If they were previously in the fridge, you may want to soak them room temperature water, like what I did below, to bring them quickly to room temperature.

  To ensure that my family do not get to exposed to homones or antibiotics.  I tend to choose eggs which chickens have not been fed on homones and antibiotics.  In Singapore, I usually buy eggs from Fairprice NTUC and I pick the Sakura Eggs.  It costs a little more at SGD$2.60 - $2.80 for a pack of eggs as compared to the regular eggs at $1.55 per pack of 10.

3.  At this juncture, while waiting for the water to boil, I will set my oven to 170 degrees Celsius and pop in the bread. I tend not to use the toaster (not because I cannot afford to use one), because I can toast the 6-8 slices of bread at one go.

4.  If possible, I will use the traditional bread which I usually get from Balestier Road when I visit my husband's grandmother, or my in-laws visit them on the weekends.  But sometimes, I will just use the ordinary sandwich loaf e.g. Gardenia High Fibre white bread.

5.  While waiting for water and toast, I pop into the bathroom to brush my teeth and cleanse my face.  When I am ready the water would be boiling and one side of the toast should be suitably browned.

6.  I will first turn the toast on the other side to brown the other side as well, before I attend to the eggs.

7.  For the eggs, there are usually a few ways to can cook it from here.

• First Method:  If you have 4 or less than 4 eggs.  You may want to use a gadget which is a soft boil egg maker.  I have one which I bought more than 10 years ago for SGD$5 at Carrefour.  It is just a simple container with a small hole at the bottom with gradations to indicate where to pour the water till.  You place the eggs and pour in the water to the appropriate level.  It works on controlling the amount of time the eggs get soaked in the hot water.
• Second Method:  If you have more than 4 eggs and do not own a softboil egg maker.  You can lower the eggs gently into the hot water with a spoon.  Cover the saucepan with a lid and keep it soaked for approximately 8 minutes.  If you like you yolk a little harder then 10 minutes. Note that if the weather is colder e.g. like in Sydney during winter, you need to soak for 15 minutes.  Alternatively, put the eggs in
  wide mouth thermos flask for 10 minutes.

The toasts should be nicely toasted on the other side as well and should be ready for eating. Remove from oven.  If the toast is too thick, use a bread knife to slit it in half from the middle (I like the thick toasts, cause when slit in half it is extremely thin and just crumbles when I bite into it.)

8.  Essentially the breakfast is ready.  Just crack the eggs into a bowl and add soya sauce and pepper to taste. Take the toast and butter it with butter and Kaya (coconut and egg jam), my children likes butter sprinkled with sugar.  Dip the toast into the soft-boiled eggs and enjoy your breakfast.