Recipes – № 72
Summer Vegetables Chawanmushi
Chawanmushi is a Japanese egg custard served hot or cold, for breakfast or as part of a multi-course meal. It has an equisitely moist, smooth texture that seems impossible - at least without some serious skill and practice, like a Hollandaise from scratch. In reality, the preparation is straightforward and pretty foolproof and I'm grateful to Nancy Singleton Hachisu for letting me in on the secret.
Serves 4
Approx. 5x6 inches of kombu (dried kelp)
1 handful of katsuobushi (dried "bonito" flakes)
3 large or 4 small eggs
4 medium cherry tomato or 8 small cherry tomatoes
6 pods of green beans. Other summer vegetables can be substituted for the green beans, including romano beans (or any other beans eaten with the pods), okra or sweet corn kernels.
4 sansho pepper leaves (optional)
2 tsp sake
1 tsp fine sea salt
Equipment: Steamer (steamer oven, bamboo steamer or rice cooker with steam tray)
Warm the kombu in a saucepan with 2 ¼ cups of cold water. Just before the water comes to a boil (it will steam and you’ll see tiny bubbles forming), remove the kombu from the pot and discard. Add the katsuobushi, bring to a boil and simmer for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and let steep for another 8 minutes. Strain the liquid into a bowl. This broth is called dashi and is an elemental building block in Japanese cooking. Add the sake and salt and stir to dissolve.
Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk briefly. Stir in the dashi and pass the mixture through a fine sieve.
Cut the stems and tips of the green beans (or romano beans or okra) and slice diagonally, ½-inch thick. Distribute the vegetables and sansho pepper leaves (if using) between 4 ceramic cups and pour the egg mixture, a bit at a time.
Steam in a steam oven, bamboo steamer or the steam tray of a rice cooker. 10 minutes of actual steaming (from the time the water starts boiling) should be enough but you can insert a small spoon into the middle of one of the cups to make sure all the custard has set. Serve immediately or serve cold on a hot summer day.
Add a comment