Black Garlic Kitchen

Black Garlic Chawanmushi

The word chawanmushi translates to steamed tea cup. Chawanmushi is a classic delicate Japanese savoury egg custard steamed in a cup. The smooth and silky custard is seasoned with a balance of sweetness and saltiness from dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, and salt, all of which contribute to an umami flavour. Black Garlic Kitchen’s version adds an extra umami burst from Black Garlic which is the key to making this delicious custard.

Black Garlic Chawanmushi

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 20 mins approx. | Makes: 2 chawanmushi cups

Ingredients

  • 100g in weight* – cracked egg
  • ½ tsp light soy sauce
  • 250g in weight* – dashi stock
  • ¾ tbsp mirin
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 20g mange tout – strings removed – cut diagonally into thin strips
  • 20g carrots – cut into 3cm julienne strips
  • 4 cloves Black Garlic – finely chopped
 

Special utensil**

Black Garlic Kitchen used a special tea cup for chawanmushi which comes with a lid. You could use a rice bowl, tea cup or a ramekin with a capacity of approximately 200ml, then cover with foil during steaming.

Method

  • In a jug, gently whisk the egg with chopsticks, being careful not to introduce air bubbles.
  • In a separate jug, combine the dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin and salt.
  • Slowly whisk the dashi mixture into the egg.
  • Strain the combined mixture through a fine mesh sieve into another jug. NB This is an important step to ensure a silky soft texture and to remove any strands of egg white.
  • Divide the mange tout, carrots and Black Garlic equally between two chawanmushi cups.**
  • Pour the strained dashi/egg mixture over the vegetables.
  • Fill a steamer with 5cm water. Place the steam rack on top. Turn the heat to medium-high until the water starts to simmer. Reduce the heat to gently steam the custards.
  • Place the chawanmushi cups (with lid on), onto the steam rack. Place the steamer lid on top.
  • Steam the chawanmushi custards for appproximately 20 minutes.
  • To check the doneness, tilt the chawanmushi cup to see if the custard has set – a word of warning be careful as the cups are extremely hot.
  • Remove the chawanmushi cups from the steamer and serve immediately.
 

Top Tip: have all the ingredients at room temperature to ensure the custard cooks faster and evenly.

Top Tip:* chawanmushi recipes list the number of eggs required in the ingredients but the size of each egg varies and it could result in the wrong consistency of steamed custard. If the eggs are very small, the custard will be watery, conversely, very large eggs will make the custard firmer. Black Garlic Kitchen’s preference is a ratio of 1:2.5 e.g. weigh one egg (cracked weight) then multiply by 2.5 for the correct weight of dashi stock. We prefer a firmer custard, however, most recipes call for a 1:3 ratio e.g. weigh one egg (cracked weight) then multiply by 3 for the dashi stock.

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