Chawanmushi is a savory egg custard. No oil is necessary in this Japanese style egg preparation. I start preparing chawanmushi in my kitchen when the cool air starts getting in the air. Hot, smooth, nourishing and umami rich egg custard is one of my important autumn repertoire. There are only two major ingredients in Chawanmushi: They are eggs and dashi stock. You can make dashi stock using instant dashi stock powder which is available at Japanese food stores or online stores. Or, you can replace dashi stock with chicken stock or vegetable stock. After diluting beaten egg liquid with dashi stock, I flavor it with usukuichi shoyu (light color shoyu) and mirin. I cook it in the steamer - I have a professional large steamer for making dozens of chawanmushi at one time. When I cook one or two chawanmushi, I make a makeshift steamer with a deep pot, a bowl and strainer. You need to be careful about maintaining the right temperature. The result is umami rich, delicate flavored & colored, velvety smooth and elegant egg custard. Stuffings for chawanmushi: You may add something like cooked gingko nuts (true autumn chawanmushi!), parboiled pieces of chicken, parboiled pieces of shrimp, or sliced shiitake mushrooms. I mostly enjoy chawanmushi without stuffing. The reason is that small portions of shrimp or chicken are not always available in my refrigerator or freezer. If you are using the stuffing the volume should be up to, about 25% of the one of the egg liquid. Chawanmushi cups and lids: In the Japanese kitchen, we have special chawanmushi cups which come with lids. They are dedicated to making chawanmushi dishes. You can use your tea/coffee mugs (steamer tolerant) for the chawanmushi cup. Find a small plate which you can use as lids for the mugs. This unconventional structure may look strange to you but the small plates keep your savory egg custards warm and delicious. Here's the recipe: One large egg, beaten with a pair of chopsticks or fork in a bowl; avoid creating fine foam (one egg is about 60ml) Ingredients: 180ml prepared dashi stock 1 teaspoon mirin 1 teaspoon usukuchi shoyu Instructions: Set up a steamer at high steam production. In a bowl break the egg and beat with a pair of chopsticks. Break the egg white by lifting it up several times. On confirming that egg white is dissolved, add the mirin and usukuchi shoyu and stir well. Strain the egg liquid through a fine sieve set over another bowl. Transfer the egg liquid to a steamer resistant cup (your mug) – how about your morning mug? Cover the cup with a square piece of aluminum foil which is large enough to completely cover the surface of the cup. Transfer the cup to a steamer which is producing high steam production. Be careful. Hot steam can burn you. Cook the custard for 2 minutes at high heat; reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes. The end custard should be smooth and velvety. If you find any bubble holes in the custard, it means that the temperature was too high for too long. Egg protein quickly coagulates at high temperature and leaves the air pockets in the custard. Well, with holes or without, it is delicious.
