Chawanmushi Recipe

Chawanmushi, literally means a 'tea cup steam' or steamed in a tea bowl in Japanese. It is a popular egg custard dish. It is not a sweet custard, but a savoury one, and is eaten as a dish in a proper, sit-down meal. The custard is made up of an egg mixture, which is flavoured with soy sauce, dashi, mirin, shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko, yuri-ne (lily root), ginkgo, shrimps etc. It is boiled in a tea-cup-like container. In terms of looks, it appears very similar to Chinese steamed eggs, but there is a slight difference in toppings. Did you know, it is one of the very few Japanese dishes that need you to use a spoon, since it is difficult to use chopsticks and eat this custard. You can have it hot or cold, the choice is yours. In some places, people also add udon noodles to the custard and call it odamaki mushi or odamaki udon.  This savory egg custard is prepared with a combination of chicken, shrimp, mushroom and seasoning ingredients.