This silky savory steamed egg custard is a Japanese classic. Chawanmushi is warm and comforting and pairs well with almost any traditional Japanese meal.
Served in a little teacup, this dish looks fancy but is actually not very hard to make! The best part is you can put almost any ingredients inside: from pork to shrimp to gingko nuts to carrots – it’s delicious and colorful.
Some tips:
To get the silky, soft custard, make sure that you 1. don’t whip too much air into the eggs, 2. don’t skip straining the egg mixture, and 3. let the mixture sit long enough to remove all the bubbles.
I also recommend choosing ingredients that add a variety of textures since the custard is so silky. For example, edamame or carrots add some crunch, and pork adds some chew. I also recommend adding at least one or two ingredients that add some extra flavor, like pork and mushroom. You can also add toppings like ikura (salmon roe) or uni (sea urchin) after the cooking process.
Some popular ingredients include:
- Chicken
- Pork
- Shrimp
- Shiitake Mushrooms
- Carrot
- Gingko Nuts
- Mitsuba (Japanese parsley)
- Kamaboko (fish cake)
Don’t have pretty little teacups to use?
If you don’t have access to get Japanese teacups or Chawanmushi pottery, you can use ramekins, small bowls, or small mugs. Almost anything small will work!
I have some chawanmushi cups listed in my Pantry and below in the “Shop this post” section.
Chawanmushi (Savory Steamed Egg Custard) / 茶碗蒸し
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1.5 cups dashi
- 1 tsp usukuchi soy sauce this gives it a lighter color, you can also use regular soy sauce
- 1 tsp mirin
- 4 slices carrot
- 2-4 shrimp
- 6 pieces edamame removed from the shell
- 1 green onion cut into 1 inch sections
- 2 slices kamaboko
- 2 mitsuba
- ikura optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Prep your ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, whisk your eggs (don't whisk too much air in). Add in the dashi, soy sauce, and mirin and mix well. Let the mixture rest until the bubbles disappear or skim off any bubbles or foam on top.
- Slowly, strain the egg mixture through a mesh sieve Into another bowl.
- In your cups, split your ingredients: shrimp, carrot, edamame, green onion, and kamaboko. Save several of the items to the side to add on top (like a piece of shrimp, a piece of carrot, or the mitsuba).
- Divide and pour the egg mixture evenly between the cups. Add the last couple pieces of items so they sit on top of the egg mixture.
- In a deep pot (one that is deep enough to hold the cups with a lid on), fill with enough water to be about halfway up the sides of the cups (about 1/2 to 1 inch). Bring the water to a boil (do not put the cups in yet).
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to the absolute lowest setting and put your cups into the pot. Cover your cups either with lids if they come with them or wrap the lid with a thin towel so water condensation doesn't drip into your chawanmushi.
- Steam for about 15-20 minutes, until a bamboo skewer or pick inserted comes out clean.
- Turn off heat and carefully take out the cups. Garnish with any extra toppings (extra mitsuba, ikura, uni, etc.) and serve immediately.
Notes
Shop this post:
Light (Usukuchi) Soy Sauce / 薄口醤油
Chawanmushi Cup Set 2
Mirin / みりん
Dashi / だし
More items can be shopped in my Pantry, my Tools, or my Amazon shop.
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