“I try to stay true to my heart, true to the produce available in this country … so whatever comes out is modern Chinese, or Chinese-Australian.”

– Kylie Kwong, Australian chef

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I enjoy watching cooking shows. I always have, since the days when the only ones on were Julia Child’s The French Chef and Graham Kerr’s The Galloping Gourmet (if you never saw the latter, it was always in great fun, he was notable for quips like his response to a woman who declined to taste a dish because of his use of butter and cream in it, “Madame, you could go outside and get run over by a bus and just think what you would have missed!”). There have always been ones that I enjoyed, and always ones I didn’t. Recently, I’ve become mildly enamored of Australian chef Kylie Kwong’s Simply Magic on the Discovery Travel & Living channel. Her cooking, as implied by the quote above, is not the traditional Chinese of her family roots, but rather a modern take on Chinese dishes with Australian ingredients, influences and flavors.

The other day I flipped it on purely by chance (scheduling here is often somewhat at random), and caught her preparing a quick lunch for herself and her brother. I’m not sure that she gave this dish a name, but all I knew as I watched her make it was that I had to try it. Simplicity in itself, and just possibly my new most favorite brunch dish.

A trio of eggs, ready to go – refrigerator cold is recommended, because you’re going to want the yolks to just warm through in the time it takes to cook the whites.

In a wok or similar pan, heat frying oil to basically smoking hot (essential, both for the speed of cooking, and also because if the oil isn’t that hot, the eggs will start absorbing the oil and the dish will end up oily). Then tip the eggs right in and stand back as they’ll start to sputter immediately.

The whites are going to bubble up all over the place, and the underside and edges are going to quickly brown and crisp. When it reaches that point (not much over a minute), remove the eggs to a plate (one of those spiders for scooping things out of a wok or frying pan works best).

Top your eggs with a good drizzle all over of oyster sauce and plenty of chopped fresh chilies and green onion.

Break the yolks with the tips of your chopsticks (or fork or whatever), and let the yolk run all over the rest – mix it up a bit, then dig in.

I believe, had this been time-lapse photography, we wouldn’t have made it to the next shutter click before these were gone.

Them’s some good eggs. I garontee!