Eggs almost always play a starring role in my meal rotation. I usually make a soft scrambled egg or a low-temperature fried egg on toast for breakfast. The most accepted egg advice is to cook it softly so that the whites don’t get tough, but today I threw the “good” advice out the window. I made a special fried egg that is fried in piping hot oil and enjoys crispy fried egg white strands: khai dao. Khai dao is a crispy Thai fried egg and it deserves more than toast to carry it.

Unlike fried eggs, Khai Dao is shallow fried, which makes a huge difference in texture and presentation. It doesn’t require tons of oil, but just enough of a pool where the whites puff up dramatically on top and crisp to a deep golden brown on the bottom. It’s a simple technique that results in a trio of textures—crisp, chewy, and creamy—and it’s a great companion to almost any meal.

If you’ve ever had Thai food, you’ve probably seen this crispy, bubbling fried egg casually placed on top of pad kra prao, a dish of minced pork with Thai holy basil and chopped chili peppers. If you search the internet for khai dao, you’ll likely find a slew of recipes for a fried egg salad called yam khai dao (or yum kai dao), in which the fried egg is chopped and mixed with vegetables in a sweet, sour and savory dressing.

Yosukata Pow Wok with flat bottom