About the Recipe
Whenever I am feeling a little under the weather and my appetite is a bit off, chawanmushi, (literally "steamy tea cups") tops my list for soft, soothing foods that'll make me feel better. The body of a chawanmushi is simply beaten egg and dashi stock, so the better the quality of your stock, the tastier this dish will be. I made this particular chawanmushi with some pieces of seafood stick, a little chicken, some prawns and shiitake mushrooms - it's like a little feast in a tea cup.
Ingredients
4 heatproof 200 ml cups or small bowls, preferably with lids (you can use cling film instead of a lid if necessary)
330 mls japanese dashi stock*
2 medium eggs
1 tsp Japanese cooking sake
4 small shiitake mushrooms
60g chicken breast
4 seafood sticks
4 large fresh prawn
some salad cress
*if you are using dashi stock made using bonito, you may wish to add a 1/4tsp of salt to the recipe
Preparation
cut the chicken into 4 chunks and halve the seafood sticks
break the eggs and whisk lightly in a bowl
add half of the stock and mix well. then add the other half of the stock and mix again
place the chicken, prawn, 2 pieces of seafood stick and shiitake mushroom in each cup
pour the egg mixture into the 4 cups evenly, then place a little cress on top of each cup
fill a large pan with enough water to cover the bottom 1/3 of the cups (this avoids over-cooking and getting water inside the cups as the contents cooks)
cover the cups with their lids (or cling film in which case you need to pierce a hole in each clingfilm lid)
when the water comes to the boil, place the cups in the pan
cook for 8-10 minutes over a medium high heat
turn off the heat and leave to stand for 2-3minutes before removing from the pan