We’re flashing back to Japan today since I didn’t have time to fit all that I had planned into that week when I was there, and it just so happened that Mongolia was boring enough to give me the time to finish it off. The last in our Japanese array, Chawanmushi, is one of D’s favorites. I did make one modifications from her mom’s recipe in that this is chicken-free, but in all other material respects, I tried to follow the recipe as written.
The best way D could describe this is sort of a savory egg custard. My track record on baked custards is admittedly inconsistent, and the thought of steaming one downright scared me. I had little confidence it would set. I did ,however, get to use this steamer basket thing for the first time that Mom gave me. Look at the packaging (and the price). It is, no doubt, at least 20 years old.
Nonetheless, onward I went.
Chawanmushi
Ingredients
- 5 cups water
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 1 TB vegetable oil
- 3 tsp dashinomoto
- 3 TB soy sauce
- 3 TB sake
- 1 TB mirin
- 1 shitake mushroom cut into 8 pieces
- 1 head spinach cut into 2" pieces
- 8 pieces kamaboko cut into 1/4" thinness
- 4 shrimp
Instructions
- To a medium pot, add 1 cup of water, soy sauce, sake, and mirin. When it boils, turn the heat off and add dashinomoto. Add the 4 remaining cups of water.
- When the liquid has cooled, stir in the beaten eggs.
- Into four chawanmushi cups (a soup cup or bowl large enough to hold 1 cup of liquid), place the above optional ingredients equally into the 4 cups. Make sure to leave at least ½ “at the top, free from liquid, as steamed eggs will rise.
- Place 4 filled cups into a large steamer pot, or in a large pot, put water in half way to the height of cups. Cover the pot and steam it for about 10-15 minutes in a medium heat. Periodically check the pot to make sure the liquid has steamed to custard.
