Featured recipe

Kopitiam half-boiled eggs

Soft-boiled eggs with soy sauce

In the old coffee shops of Ipoh, Penang and Kuala Lumpur, breakfast is a cup of thick kopi, kaya toast and two eggs so lightly cooked they slide out of the shell into a saucer. You season them with dark soy and white pepper, stir and slurp them, or dip the toast in. The mistake is boiling the eggs: they are cooked off the heat in water just off the boil, so the white turns milky but stays wobbly. Because the eggs are barely set, cook them fully for anyone pregnant, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: use a lidded mug or small pot that just fits the eggs, and warm it with hot water first so the temperature does not drop.

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