Given I started cooking so late in life, I rarely repeat recipes because I am always racing to learn something new. This recipe however is one recipe I have made over and over since I found it, for myself, family and friends.
It’s a dish that is so incredibly delicious, comforting, ridiculously easy to make and no one will believe me when I say it only takes a few minutes (plus cook time) which is really the reason I’m making a video about it.
Dan Hong’s chawanmushi recipe has a few separate components which also sound delicious but I’ve been lazy (sorry Dan lol) and just use the base recipe and add whatever is best at the time in terms of seafood, herbs, roe etc. Some of my favourite things to add have been raw scarlet prawns, cooked black garlic butter or dashi butter spanner crab, scampi oil, scarlet prawn oil, scampi caviar (that epic blue), salmon roe, truffle.
You can infuse the chawanmushi mix as well – during truffle season, I sliced some truffle pieces and infused in the mix overnight.
Here are some I have made in the past –
Dan’s book “Mr Hong” is one of my favourite cookbooks – it is unfortunately out of print but you can get it on Kindle, iBooks or by selling an organ on the black market (or in my case, I bought it on Kindle but then was the very lucky recipient of a gift from my friend Jo who had an entirely new copy – thanks so much Jo!!).
Video of the process
Dan Hong’s Recipe (with my comments in italics)
INGREDIENTS
- 2½ tablespoons thin (pouring) cream (pouring cream has 35% fat, I usually use the Dairy Farmer’s pure cream which is 36%)
- 3¾ tablespoons shiro-dashi (shiro dashi is a soup base made with bonito or kombu dashi. You can get shiro dashi at any good Japanese grocer. I’m based in Sydney and I’ve bought mine from Toky0-mart, Maruyu and J-Top Trade before)
- 3 eggs
INSTRUCTIONS
Whisk all the ingredients together with 350 ml (12 fl oz) water in a bowl and strain through a fine sieve into a jug. (I’m lazy and strain directly into the bowls with a cone shaped sieve for however many I’m planning to consume soon.)
Divide among four small bowls and cover each bowl very tightly with plastic wrap. (The tight plastic wrap is key to making the top of the chawanmushi super smooooth)
Put the bowls in a large steamer and place over a saucepan of simmering water for 6–8 minutes or until set. (The cooking time depends on the size of your bowl or ramekin and how much mix you put in. When I use Le Creuset ramekins, I fill them about 4/5 of the way and it takes around 12minutes. For the first time using a new bowl, keep an eye on the wobble and test as it goes.)
They should be quite firm with a little wobble in the centre.
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