Pili Pili Eggs Recipe

Omelets are tasty and all, but they’re sort of a pain to cook for more than one person. Enter the pili pili eggs recipe from Kiano Moju’s new cookbook, AfriCali , which makes multiple servings in one skillet for easy preparation and serving.

“Across the African continent, I find that omelets aren’t just beaten eggs that are stuffed with a filling of your choice,” Moju writes, “but rather, the eggs are beaten with a combination of finely chopped fresh veggies so that it all cooks together. Removing the pain of making individual omelets at home, I make a sharing pan of eggs, typically interchanging the onion and garlic depending on what I have on hand.”

The dish is named for pili pili (also known as piri piri or peri peri), a spicy African chili sauce made with garlic, hot peppers and oil. Top it with feta , goat cheese or sour cream to curb the heat or boost the protein content with grilled or crumbled sausage.

^{Excerpted from AfriCali . Copyright © 2024, Kiano Moju. Photography Copyright © 2023 by Kristin Teig. Reproduced by permission of Simon Element, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, LLC. All rights reserved.}

Skillet Eggs and Chorizo

288 calories

23g fat

6g carbs

14g protein

4g sugars

1 pint cherry tomatoes

3 garlic cloves or ¼ small onion

1 fresh medium hot chili pepper, such as serrano or Fresno

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt

6 large eggs

Fresh cilantro, chili flakes and warm flatbread or toast, for serving

1. Cut the tomatoes into round slices. Thinly slice the garlic. If using, finely dice the onion. Thinly slice the chili pepper (remove the seeds for a milder flavor).

2. Heat a wide nonstick pan over medium heat. Once it’s hot, pour the oil into the pan, then add the garlic or onion and the chili pepper and cook, stirring until fragrant and softened, about 1 minute for garlic or 2 to 3 minutes for onion. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes break down, about 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Crack in the eggs around the pan. Cover and cook them in the sauce until the yolks have reached the desired doneness, about 5 minutes.

4. While the eggs cook, discard the stems and roughly chop the leaves of the cilantro. Once the eggs are cooked, uncover and garnish them with the cilantro and chili flakes.

5. Serve the eggs out of the pan with flatbread or toast on the side for scooping.