ChawanMushi

Today Chef Azuki's mother was over and showed us how to make ChawanMushi. She told us ChawanMushi means bowl (chawan) steamed (mushi).   It was so delicious!  I remember my mom making this lovely silky savory custard and always wanted to learn how to make it.  Since my mother's passing, I only tried to make it once.  It came out a little hard, not exactly like I remembered.  Today, I stood by while Bachan Azuki created magic and made the silky, custard-like, delicate egg dish.  It's like custard or silken tofu, with vegetables in it and hints of egg flower soup.  It's hard to explain, but when you eat it, it's delicious.  I don't know why I always thought it would be difficult to make; but following this simple recipe, it was a snap.  I received chawanmushi bowls at my wedding, 20 some odd years ago, and this is the second time I've used them.  Well, better late than never.

ChawanMushi

Ingredients:
1 bone in chicken half breast
Enough water to fill half of a large pot.
3 eggs
1/2 Carrot-very thinly sliced
1/4 C frozen Peas
Kani-kamaboko (artificial crab meat) 2 crab sticks
1 tsp salt
Parsley to garnish

Directions:
1.  Fill large pot half full with water
2.  Boil chicken
3.  As chicken is boiling slice carrots and cut kani-kamaboko into bite size pieces
4.  When chicken is almost fully cooked take it out and let it and the water cool
5.  You may want to speed up the cooling of the water by adding some ice
6.  Cut the chicken into cubes
7.  Take out about 4 Cups of water and add a tsp of salt
8.  In a small separate bowl really mix eggs well with a fork or chopsticks
9.  Add egg to the water and mix together with a fork or chopsticks
10.  Pour egg/water mixture into 5 chawan mushi bowls or custard ramekins
11.  Add chicken, carrots, peas and kani-kamaboko to each bowl.
12. Cover the bowls tightly with aluminum foil.
13.  Place bowls into a large flat bottom steamer.
14.  Turn on the heat on medium-high
15.  When water starts boiling, leave in for 10 minutes longer.
16.  Carefully remove bowls.  You may want to remove the top layer of the steamer first
       so you don't get burned by all the steam coming from the water below.
17.  You can garnish with parsley if you like

We took pictures with the Chawan Mushi bowl covered, with the garnish on top and stirred to show the vegetable and meats underneath.  You stir it up and eat it with a spoon.  You can eat this for breakfast, or as a side dish.  I love it!

BeaNspirations:  Sometimes, once you actually try something, it's not as hard as you thought!