Passport & Plate - Chawan-Mushi
Japan | Saturday, February 28, 2015 | 2 photos
Ingredients
9 eggs beaten
6 cups of Dashi
1 tbsp Mirin
2 1/2 tsp salt
1Tbsp soya sauce
7 oz of boneless skinless chicken breast
6 large shrimp
crab meat
6 thin sliced carrots cut into flower shape using cookie cutter
6 fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
3-4 stalks of spinach
several fine strips of lemon rind per serving as garnish
Seasoning for Chicken:
2 tsp sake
a generous pinch of salt
DASHI:
6 cups of water
6 -inch square piece of dried kelp (konbu)
1 1/2 cup or 2 handfuls of dried bonito flakes (katsuo bushi)
OR use instant dashi to make 6 cups!!!
How to prepare this recipeDashi: With scissors, cut dried kelp in 4 pieces and soak in measured water in sauce pan for 10-15 min. Heat to boil. when water begins to boil, immediately remove kelp. add 1/4 cup of water to stop the boiling then add bonito flakes. Cook for 1 more minute, uncovered, then remove from heat. Allow fish flakes to settle to bottom, around 6 minutes then strain.
Directions:
1. Heat dashi, mirin, salt and soy sauce until salt is disolved. Coot to room temp and add beaten eggs. Strain through sieve to remove lumps.
2. Using a knife at an angle, cut chicken into cubes, add seasoning and let sit for 10 minutes.
3. Peel shrimp, but leave on the tail.
4. Submerge spinach for 1 minute, drain,rinse under cold water, squeeze excess water out, cut into 1 inch lengths, divide in 6.
5. Lightly moisten bottom of small serving cups or ramkins with egg mixture to prevent sticking. Place ingredients, except for lemon rind, into cups or bowls, attractively leaving shrimp on the top. Gently pour egg mixture into each container to about 1/3 inch below the edge of the container
6. Fill a large oven pan 1/2 inch deep with hot water. Place the custard cups (covered with tin foil) into the water covered oven pan and bake at 320F for 20-25 minutes.
The custard is done when a fine skewer inserted in to the middle comes out clean. Serve hot with strips of lemon rind on top.
The story behind this recipeFor me, this dish goes right back to when I lived in Japan for 5 years on a Japanese Buddhist Temple. My most memorable experiences where sitting at traditional tables eating & socializing for hours on end. The importance of the food we were eating was very apparent. What we ate had stories & meaning. Where the food came from was important to the person hosting. How we ate it & the order it was served had relevance. During the evening, eating was so much more than for subsistence. Eating felt so overwhelmingly important. You knew that the food you were eating was steeped in history & took a lot of time to make, so the appreciation was there while enjoying the experience.
I was fortunate enough to be able to be in the kitchen with the temple cooking staff & the housewife to learn to cook many Japanese traditional meals. I was also lucky enough to attend a cooking class with a famous chef and author, Kiyoko Konishi, introduced to me by a close friend. There I learned many skills including my favorite dish, Chawan-Mushi - a time consuming dish, but so worth the effort.
The one thing that I learnt while living in Japan & learning to cook there was to slow down and enjoy the process. I found the way I cooked in the past was faster and certainly less elegant. In Japan I was taught that each ingredient served a purpose and even though some would eventually be mixed into a dish, the ingredient would ultimately shine through at a certain point. This dish, chawan-mushi is a great example - very few ingredients but each specifically arranged in the dish and even the end product cooks so that the custard separates slightly from the broth allowing you to appreciate the two individually, yet the two completely meld together.
Though I was able to go to and appreciate some sophisticated dishes in Japan, I really loved travelling to small villages and going into little shops to eat with the locals. This dish brings back fond memories of my experiences overseas!
