'But bacon and eggs isn't Thai food!'
I hear you.
But, done like this, it is for me. It's what I call 'island-style' bacon and eggs and reminds me of eating in the sunshine, sitting on the sand at a low table and the sea right in front. Eating from a patterned plastic plate and mismatched cutlery. It's probably not served where I had it any more now the beach bungalows have given way to villas and hotels with swimming pools, but I bet there are still some places in the world that do a great, garlicky, fried breakfast on the beach.
Anyway, it doesn't really need a recipe but here's how I put it together. You'll need:
cooking oil
some slices of white onion
a couple of cloves of garlic, flattened and chopped (if you have the little Thai garlic cloves, just leave the papery skins on too to crisp up when fried)
chopped bacon (I'm using up some lardons)
cooked and sliced boiled potatoes (great for using up leftovers)
salt and pepper
one egg
Put a frying pan onto a medium-high heat, add the oil and when hot add the onion, garlic and bacon. I cook all of this at a higher temperature than I would if I was making just normal bacon and eggs to try and recreate that sense of a full English being cooked too quickly over a high heat in a wok. Sort of like a stir fry full English!
Keep stirring though so it doesn't burn.
When the bacon's cooked, add the sliced cooked potatoes, turn the heat down a bit and leave to cook for a couple of minutes.
Turn the heat up again, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for another minute or two, stirring, until the potatoes are hot right through.
Then either push everything to one side, add more oil if needed and fry the egg in the same pan …
…. or tip the bacon, potatoes, onions etc into a bowl and put a plate or lid on top to keep warm.
Then add more oil to the same pan and fry the egg over a higher heat than you normally might.
Keep spooning the hot oil over it as it cooks to cook it more quickly, and as soon as it starts to set, pop a lid on top and cook for perhaps two minutes. The hotter temperature cooks the egg with a few bubbles in it and with just-about-to-crisp edges but you still want a lovely runny yolk.
Serve the egg on top of the pile of bacon, onions and potatoes and if you like, on a plastic plate as I did, for added 'authenticity'.
And there you have it. Drumroll please! Island-style bacon and eggs.
