Chawanmushi (Japanese Steamed Egg) Recipe
This Chawanmushi recipe is always a success and super easy to make. I remember the first time I tried Chawanmushi (Japanese Steamed Egg) – I was in Japan for the very first time, dining at a Michelin star restaurant. It was served in a very small cup with various fillings/toppings. It looked so simple, yet the dish itself looked so fancy and elegant. Fast forward almost 9 years on our latest trip to Japan, we decided to go on a journey to find these Chawanmushi cups and make it ourselves at home.
What is Chawanmushi?
Chawanmushi is a Japanese egg custard dish that is steamed in a small cup and typically eaten as an appetizer. The steamed custard is super silky and savoury, made with eggs, dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and salt. You can easily buy pre-made dashi stock packets (they come in a pouch like a tea bag) at your local Japanese specialty store or even at certain Chinese grocery stores. If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can make dashi stock at home yourself – just refer to our Miso Soup recipe!
If you do not have dashi readily available at home, you can easily substitute with chicken stock and it will still taste just as good (though we highly recommend you stick with traditional dashi). You can top and fill the custard with almost any ingredients as you please. While you can use any fillings/toppings as you wish, here are the ones most commonly used:
- Shrimp/chicken
- Fish cake
- Mushrooms (e.g. Shimeji, shiitake)
- Carrots
We purchased our chawanmushi cups in Japan but it’s possible they may sell these at your local Japanese specialty store. If you don’t have one, you can easily use any other small vessel at your disposal such as ramekins or other small teacups.
How to Make Chawanmushi
This chawanmushi recipe only requires a few key ingredients. You can get creative with whichever filling/toppings you’d like 🙂
- Prepare steam bath – In a large pot or vessel, fill with about 2 inches of water and place a steam rack on top. Turn the heat to medium high or until the water starts to simmer.
- Mix together custard ingredients – In a large mixing bowl, gently whisk your eggs until it is combined, careful not to introduce too many air bubbles. In a separate bowl, combine dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and salt. Slowly whisk the dashi mixture into the egg mixture until fully combined.
- Strain the custard mixture into a Pyrex (glass) measuring cup – This is the most important step for a silky smooth custard – strain the custard mixture into a Pyrex measuring cup to make it easy to pour the egg custard mixture into your cups and to remove any impurities in your custard (e.g. excess egg white)
- Add half your fillings to the cup – Add half of your fillings of choice into your cups and top with the egg custard mixture until it is 2/3 full. You will add the rest layer so that the fillings can peek through the top to make it more visually appealing.
- Steam and top with rest of fillings – Steam your custards with their lids on (if no lid, cover the cups with tin foil) for 5 minutes, and then add the remainder of your fillings before the custard fully sets. Steam for another 5 minutes or until the custard is set.
Tips for Success
- Use room temperature ingredients – By having your eggs the same temperature as your dashi, this ensures your custard mixture will cook faster and more evenly.
- Strain your egg mixture – We cannot stress this enough – if you want that silky texture, you must strain your egg mixture before pouring it into your cups to steam. When we strained our mixture, we were left with a lot of excess egg whites that could not be fully incorporated into the egg mixture. Throw this out as this will ultimately ruin the texture of your final dish and leave unsightly white streaks as it cooks.
- Easily adjust this chawanmushi recipe using the 3:1 ratio as a guide – You may not have medium eggs as our recipe calls for on hand. You may want to scale down or scale up the recipe depending on how many people you’re making this for. The good news is that this recipe is easily scalable as the dashi to egg ratio is 3:1. In other words, if you have 100g of eggs, you will need 300g of dashi. You can then adjust the seasoning (e.g. soy sauce, mirin, salt) accordingly to taste.
Did you enjoy this Chawanmushi recipe? If so, check out these other ones you might like as well:
Chawanmushi (Japanese Steamed Egg) Recipe
Ingredients
Egg Custard
- 4 medium eggs (room temperature)
- 2 1/2 cup dashi (can be replaced with chicken stock)
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1/2 tsp salt
Toppings
- Mushrooms (e.g. shiitake)
- Fish cake
- Shrimp
- Parsley (garnish)
Instructions
- 1. In a large pot, fill with 2 inches of water and place a steam rack on the bottom. Heat on medium heat until it starts to simmer.
- 2. In a medium sized bowl, gently whisk together the eggs until thoroughly combined, trying your best not to introduce too many air bubbles.
- 3. In a separate bowl, combine dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and salt and stir to combine.
- 4. Slowly drizzle in the dashi mixture into the eggs, whisking gently until fully combined.
- 5. Strain this mixture through a sieve into a Pyrex measuring cup or any vessel with a spout to make pouring the mixture much easier.
- 6. Portion the egg mixture into individual cups (or your vessel of choice) until it is 2/3 full. Add in half of your filling of choice. Cover with lids (if available) or with aluminum foil.
- 7. Put your custard cups onto the steam rack. If your steam rack is not wide enough, you can place a plate on top of the steam rack and add your cups on top. Close the lid of your pot.
- 8. Steam for approximately 5 minutes and before the custard fully sets, open the lid and add the remainder of your ingredients/filling into the custard so that they peek through on top. Close the lids and continue steaming for another 5 minutes or until custard is fully set. You should be able to tap the surface of the custard with a spoon and it should remain somewhat firm when done.
- 9. You can serve this immediately while hot or at room temperature.
