Plain Chawanmushi with Starchy Clear Sauce contains nothing inside the savoury egg custard. It is a comforting dish, and you can have it just like a soup. A starchy clear sauce called gin-an (銀餡) over the chawanmushi and ikura as a little garnish on top make the dish more special and appetising. The instruction is long, but it is actually a very simple dish as you can see in the video.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 2 eggs (note 1)
- 300ml/10fl oz dashi stock (note 1)
- 1 tsp light soy sauce (note 2)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 200ml/6.8fl oz dashi stock
- ½ tsp mirin
- 1½ tsp light soy sauce (note 2)
- ½ tbsp corn flour/cornstarch diluted in 1 tbsp water
- Ikura (salmon roe)
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Beat the eggs in a bowl thoroughly, ensuring that there are no streaks of egg white and egg yolk.
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Add the beaten egg to the dashi stock in a jar or a larger bowl, together with the remaining Chawanmushi ingredients. Mix well until the salt dissolves completely.
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Gently pour the equal amount of chawanmushi mixture through a sieve into 4 small serving cups/bowls of about 200ml/6.8 fl oz in capacity (note 4).
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Remove the bubbles on the surface using the pointy tip of a chopstick or the edge of folded kitchen paper.
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Cover the cups/bowls with aluminium foil (or a lid if the cup comes with it).
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Place the cups/bowls in a bamboo steamer.
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Fill a large wok, on which a bamboo steamer can be placed above 5-7cm/2-2¾" from the bottom, with about 500ml/1 pt of water, then bring it to a boil.
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Place the bamboo steamer with the chawanmushi in it on the wok and put the steamer lid on. Steam for 15-18 minutes over medium heat.
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Put a bamboo skewer in the middle of the custard and see if the tip of the skewer is wet or not. If the skewer is dry, the chawanmushi is ready. If the skewer is wet and sticky, continue steaming for another minute or so.
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Remove the foil and take the bamboo steamer off the wok.
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Please refer to my Chawanmushi recipe, which explains other methods of steaming chawanmushi.
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Put all the Gin-an ingredients, excluding corn flour, in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
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Reduce heat to low and add corn flour, a small quantity at any one time, and mix the sauce quickly as you dribble the corn flour in (note 5).
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Bring the heat up to medium. When the sauce is thickened, and the edge of the sauce starts bubbling, remove the pan from the heat.
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Gently pour an equal amount of gin-an over the surface of the chawanmushi (note 6).
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Top with ikura in the middle if using. Serve immediately.
1. For the best texture of chawanmushi, the ratio of egg (without shell) to dashi stock should be between 1 to 2.5 and 1 to 3. A higher portion of dashi stock makes the custard more delicate and fragile.
My eggs weighed 106g after removing the shell. I used 300ml dashi, which is close to 1:3 ratio of egg to dashi stock.
2. Light soy sauce is recommended to keep the colour of the custard lighter. But if you only have normal soy sauce, you can substitute it.
3. With gin-an on top of the custard, the dish already looks special. But I used ikura to make the dish look luxurious.
Instead of ikura, you can also place a piece of mitsuba or mizuna on top.
4. I used a rice bowl to serve Plain Chawanmushi so that I had a wider surface area to show off the gin-an. If you have a chawanmushi cup, which has narrower opening and is deeper than rice bowl, you can of course use it.
You could also use smaller cups to make 6 servings. If the individual cup is smaller, you will need to reduce the steaming time slightly. Similarly, if the cup is larger, e.g. making 2 or 3 servings using the same amount of ingredients per the recipe, you will need to steam chawanmushi a bit longer.
5. It is important not to add the entire amount of corn flour at once over high heat, because the corn flour hardens quickly before you can mix it evenly, and you will end up with lumpy sauce.
6. You need to pour the sauce extra gently over the custard. Even a spoonful of thickened sauce can break the surface of the custard (as you can see in my video!).
7. Nutrition per serving, excluding topping.
serving:157g calories:62kcal fat:3.4g (4%) saturated fat:1g (5%) trans fat:0.0g polyunsaturated fat:0.7g monounsaturated fat:1.2g cholesterol:94mg (31%) sodium:600mg (26%) carbohydrates:1.3g (0%) dietary fibre:0.1g (0%) sugar:0.4g protein:6.3g vitamin D:1mcg (3%) calcium:19mg (1%) iron:0.5mg (3%) potassium: 229mg (5%)