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| Something fun to add to your meals! |
So, if you're not familiar with it, Marmite is a yeast extract that can be used to spread on toast, used as soup stocks, or to flavour your meat dishes or porridge.
Although I call it Marmite chawanmushi, you can actually use Bovril or even Vegemite to make the soup base instead! (Vegemite may take a bit of work to dissolve, since it's thicker than either Marmite or Bovril.)
If you're not a fan of yeast extracts, other powdered soup stocks (like chicken/beef/dashi) work as well. (You may have to spice them up with additional seasonings.) It's up to your preference, but the steps to make the chawanmushi are basically the same.
Alright, without further ado, here are the ingredients/tools you need to make a single serving of chawanmushi!
Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- soy sauce
- soup stock (Marmite in this case)
- hot water (to dissolve the soup stock)
- paprika (optional)
Tools:
- A bowl for the chawanmushi
- A teaspoon
- A bowl and fork to beat the egg
- A pot to steam the chawanmushi
- A steamer rack or paper towel
Alright, now here's how to make the chawanmushi!
Step 1: Prepare the soup stock!
I prepare the soup stock in the chawanmushi bowl itself. If you're using Marmite, Bovril or Vegemite, I use about this much:
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| Yum. |
This makes up like a teaspoon of the spread if you flatten it. It may sound like a lot for a single serving, but you need the soup stock to be strong, otherwise the chawanmushi may turn out bland. Time to add the hot water!
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| Making soup! |
You need to add enough hot water to just dissolve the Marmite/Bovril. You can gradually add the hot water and stir until there's almost none of the spread left stuck onto the spoon. (For Vegemite, you may need to use another fork/spoon to help mix it into the water.)
If you're worried about the soup stock tasting too strong, you can add a few teaspoons of hot water to dilute it a bit. OK, time to season the soup stock a little bit.
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| More salt!!! |
After dissolving the Marmite/Bovril/Vegemite, add some soy sauce! The amount actually depends on the type of soy sauce you use, since some types are saltier than others. This is the type of soy sauce I use, if you want to know:
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| It's actually quite tasty. |
I use about 1 1/2 teaspoons of this soy sauce for my chawanmushi... And that's it for the soup stock!
Step 2: Add the egg to the soup stock!!
With the soup stock done, it's time to crack and beat the egg. I just used a small fork to do it. Once you've thoroughly beaten the egg, it's time to pour it into the soup stock!
It's not demonstrated in the photo, but when pouring the beaten egg into the soup stock, stir the soup stock to mix the egg evenly with the soup. Don't worry about the heat of the soup stock cooking the egg. There's a method called egg tempering that's similar to what I'm doing.
Alright, with the egg mixed into the soup stock, it's time to steam the chawanmushi!!
Step 3: Steam the chawanmushi!!!
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| The water in the pot is not boiled yet. |
I use a pot with a steam rack and some tap water in it. If you don't have a steam rack...
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| Which looks something like this... |
You can use a folded paper towel (or a kitchen towel) for the chawanmushi bowl to sit on. The level of the water should reach halfway up to the side of the chawanmushi bowl if you're using that instead of a steamer rack.
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| Just nice for one bowl! |
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| "I'll be back..." |
Once the chawanmushi bowl is sitting nicely in the pot, cover the pot and turn on the flame to high heat. Once the water in the pot starts to boil, turn the flame to low heat and let the chawanmushi steam for at least 15 minutes.
You can check inside the pot every now and then to see how the chawanmushi's doing, but be careful not to let condensated water drip into the chawanmushi.
While the chawanmushi is cooking, let's talk about bowls! The bowl I'm using for the chawanmushi is actually a Chinese double-boiling jar, which comes with a lid. You can actually use a soup bowl/mug or even ramekins if you don't have something like that. I used a soup mug to make my chawanmushi before I got those double-boiling jars. As long as it withstands heat, it should work.
Alright, once 15 mins have passed and there's clear soup forming around the egg, it's done!!!
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| ... |
Ok, the reason this chawanmushi looks porous is because at the time I made it, I boiled the water in the steaming pot in advance, which was a bad idea because the sudden high heat from the steaming pot affected the surface of the chawanmushi. From what I gather, the starting temperature of the steaming water should not exceed the temperature of the egg mixture if you want to get a nice, smooth, silky steamed egg.
Getting a nice silky chawanmushi is definitely doable. I've got proof in one of my previous attempts:
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| The overturned part in the middle is due to me checking the firmness of the chawanmushi. |
Anyway, enough talk, let's take out and serve the chawanmushi!
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| Pat, pat. |
This is where the lid that came with the double-boiling jar comes in handy. With the lid on, I can use a damp towel and take the chawanmushi out of the pot without having to worry about the towel touching the chawanmushi, hah! (If you've got one of those steaming tongs, you can use that to take the chawanmushi out of the pot.)
Step 4: Season with paprika and enjoy!
Paprika goes well with egg, and I like paprika, so I sprinkle a generous amount of it over my chawanmushi. You can use pepper if you don't have any paprika, or just eat it plain. It should be tasty enough.
Actually, I could have added the paprika to the soup stock before steaming the chawanmushi, but at least you can see the gorgeous contrast between the blotty red pepper and the smooth yellow steamed egg. Also, good thing only the surface of the chawanmushi is porous and spongy, because the rest of the chawanmushi is still nice and smooth.
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| Look at this beauty. |
And that's how you make my version of a chawanmushi!
It's simple with only a few ingredients, and you're free to modify it to suit your tastes! The only reason I use Marmite/Bovril is because I happen to like the taste. (Too bad most of my family does not like the taste, so I have to use other soup stocks when I make chawanmushi for them.)
So, if you happen to have any Marmite, Bovril or Vegemite and don't know what to do with it, you could try making this chawanmushi dish. 8D
Some additional notes:
- You can also do it the other way, where you prepare the soup stock in a separate bowl/pot and add it gradually to the chawanmushi bowl with a beaten egg already inside it. This method is preferred when you are preparing multiple servings of chawanmushi. Roughly 1 cup of soup stock is enough for 1 chawanmushi in this case. Less soup stock may result in a firmer chawanmushi and vice versa. Just don't put too little or too much soup stock and you'll be fine.
- If you want it closer to being actual chawanmushi, you can add some cooking sake/wine if you'd like.
- My recipe is just for plain chawanmushi, but you can totally add extra ingredients like meat and mushrooms to it. Just add them after the egg is mixed with the soup stock.
- Making chawanmushi using a microwave oven is doable. (There are recipes out there for it.) However, I could not get a nice smooth texture when I tried it. The chawanmushi was also prone to exploding in the microwave when I left it in for too long without stopping and stirring it in intervals. Putting the chawanmushi in a water bath may work, but I haven't tried out that method. You can see the result of one of my microwaved attempts below:
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| Let me know if you find a way to make this work. |
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