Chawanmushi with an Awase Dashi
One of the few Japanese dishes eaten with a spoon and why you shouldn't be late for dinner in a Ryokan.
In 2019, fresh off a flight from London, we had a family stay at Shioyu Naginoto to ease our jetlag in the most beautiful of settings. Facing out across the sea, this Ryokan is nestled in Karatsu Bay, around an hour or so south-west from Fukuoka, on Kyushu island. After checking in and putting down our bags, we headed straight for the beach. The bay faces towards South Korea and there are smaller Japanese islands framed on the horizon. Straight out of a Hokusai. Our walk was filled with the sound of the waves and the pleasure of watching starfish crawling along the sands.
Just a week off 5 years since that stay in Kyushu and I’m craving a return visit. A stay at a ryokan is a quintessential Japanese experience. I can’t think of a Western equivalent. A smaller, family-run ryokan is like an inn, part homestay perhaps but more than just a B&B. A more personal experience than a hotel certainly. The family owners will often live in the same building and you’ll have the sense that you are being looked after, as a true guest. Not just a customer.
Most Ryokan will provide breakfast and dinner. You stay in a traditional tatami style room, with the bed being prepared by the owners after dinner. I love the old fashioned TV that you still find in some, straight out of the eighties, pure nostalgia. Often there’s a communal bath and shared spaces, where you can talk to the other guests or owners. At the higher end, there’ll be access to an onsen. Heaven after any long journey. At Shioyu Naginoto, the onsen is superbly positioned, looking out, from a raised first floor, over Karatsu bay. After a hot soak in the steaming mineral waters, you can change into a clean set of nemaki (Japanese robes) and head for dinner.
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At check-in, you might be asked (or told) a time for dinner. Choose your time, but do be there then! Dinner is most usually kaiseki style. Several small dishes, served as a number of courses. The dishes are often delicate, pretty and much care goes into serving them at the right temperature at the right time. Don’t be late.
A kaiseki style dinner will likely include Chawanmushi. Perfectly pretty, these are little steamed, savoury custards served in small bowls with a lid. They’re one of a handful of Japanese dishes that are eaten with a spoon. Not sipped or slurped from the bowl. Silky and smooth, the steamed custards are made by simply mixing eggs with dashi plus a little soya sauce. The mixture is poured over little portions of seafood, meat and vegetables to vary up the textures. Then there’s juice from the broth, making each bite so satisfying. Perfect chawanmushi are smooth and soft to scoop up on a spoon, a little like pannacotta.
Chawanmushi originate from Nagasaki (also on Kyushu island) and were influenced by visiting traders, where they featured in ‘Shippoku’ cuisine. A style of fusion cuisine which blends Chinese, Western and Japanese cooking. Chawanmushi translates literally as ‘steamed tea cup’. With the savoury custard being served in the beautiful ceramic bowl it was steamed in. These are ideal little starters for a dinner party, as they’re so pretty to serve. You can find special chawanmushi sets, beautiful ceramics, which have a bowl, lid and saucer. Once cooked, the lid are put on to hold in the aroma. Part of the delight of eating them, lifting the lid off reveals a wave of aromatic steam, before the first spoonful. At home, they’re easily made in ramekins or small teacups, or anything you have around the same size.
I’ve chosen to feature a recipe for Chawanmushi thise week, as I’m nostalgic for that stay at the ryokan but also as the dish shows you how to use awase dashi to power up umami in Japanese cooking. Awase means ‘combine’ in Japanese. It is a 2-for-1 dashi. Normally awase dashi is made by combing kombu and katsuo dashi together. You can also make a vegan version, using kombu and shiitake mushrooms. By combining two different types of dashi, you are blending different varieties of umami rich compounds, to deepen the flavour profile. The theory is that the process of mixing, doesn’t double the umami, but squares it!
To make Vegan Awase Dashi at home, here’s a reel with recipe:
With your awase dashi prepped, here’s the recipe for the Chawanmushi. Follow a few tips to make yours perfect:
Drain the egg mixture through a sieve before pouring into the little bowls. This will help to acheive that silkey, smooth texture.
Steam gently. Use a high heat to boil the water and to create steam, but turn down to a gentle heat before you add the custard filled bowls.
Wrap the lid you use to cover the steaming pot, in a tea towl or clean cloth, to stop water droplets falling on the chawanmushi.
Once you take them out of the steamer, if you have a lid, use it to trap in the aroma before serving.
Chawanmushi should be served straight away, hot. Make sure your guests are sat down and ready to eat!
I hope you enjoy the recipe. By the way, if you’re planning a trip to Japan do consider a) including Kyushu island, it is fantastic on all counts, and b) trying to fit in a stay at an Onsen Ryokan for that quintessential Japanese experience. Both are highly recommended. Just don’t be late for dinner!
RECIPE
Makes 4
Ingredients:
2 medium eggs
300ml Awase dashi
2tsp Light soya sauce
A pinch of sea salt
2-3 Raw king prawns
2 Fresh scallops
1/4 cups Edamame
2-3 Soaked shiiitake mushrooms (use up the ones used to make the dashi)
METHOD
Use a medium sized bowl, to beat two eggs, I use chopsticks to do this.
Add the awase dashi and then the 2 tsp of soya sauce. A light soya sauce is best, so it doesn't darken the mixture.
Add a pinch of salt too, mix again then pour the mixture through a fine sieve.
Add your choice of fresh bite-sized seafood. Prawns and scallops are ideal. Scatter them into ramekins. Add some, but not all, of the edamame beans and the sliced leftover shiitake mushrooms, from the dashi.
Pour in the egg mixture equally to each of the four ramekins, to cover the seafood, edamame and mushrooms.
To steam them, use a large steaming pot with a stand or a steamer. Cover the lid with a cloth and turn the heat down before adding the ramekins to steam.
Steam for 7 minutes, then add the reamining edamame and mushrooms. The mixture will be set and this keeps them on the surface.
Steam for a further 7 minutes, before serving hot.
Note: The cooking time can vary, depending on bowl/ramekin size and steaming pot size. Check the custard by tilting a pot to make sure it is set and not runny. You can also poke a skewer in and if you see clear juices, they are ready.
This post brings back wonderful memories of ryokan stays, though we never had a view of the water. The food, service, aesthetics; all magnificent.
Shippoku and Nanban dishes are my Japanese culinary soft spot, and Chawanmushi and Purin are my true weaknesses 🥰