Chawanmushi With Clams – Savoury Egg Custard

Maori Murota

Serves

4

Preparation

15 mins

Cook

20 mins

Soak

2 - 3 hrs

Ingredients

16 clams
300ml dashi (see recipe), cooled completely
2 eggs
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon neutral vegetable oil
2 chives, chopped
DASHI makes 1 litre (4 cups) dashi / preparation 5 mins / cook 15 mins / rest 40 mins - overnight
1 litre (4 cups) water
10g dried kombu, cut in half
10g katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)

TIP

It’s easy to improvise with this recipe. The base is 1 volume of beaten egg for 3 volumes of cold broth (otherwise the egg hardens when you mix it all together). You can prepare it with chicken or seafood broth and vary the toppings (mushrooms, carrots, peas, prawns, meat, fish, etc.), making sure you cut them into smallish pieces to allow the ingredients to cook quickly.

DASHI

For the katsuobushi and kombu quantities, use 1% of the water amount. To make 600ml dashi, you will need 6g katsuobushi and kombu (add 20ml water for absorption and evaporation).

DASHI

There is nothing better than home-made dashi. The recipe may seem complicated at first, but it is actually simpler to make than western stocks. Powdered or liquid versions of dashi concentrate are available in Asian stores, but they are often enriched with glutamate, amino acids and all kinds of artificial flavour enhancers.

View the recipe collection here

Instructions

1.Remove the sand from the clams by soaking them in 200ml water mixed with 1 teaspoon salt for 2 to 3 hours. Wash them.
2.Bring 80ml water to the boil in a saucepan, drop in the clams and cover.
3.As soon as the clams open, take them out and let them cool.
4.Keep the cooking water in a large bowl, leave to cool completely and then add the dashi (also cooled).
5.Beat the eggs with a whisk in a bowl. Add the dashi- cooking water mixture. Mix and strain with a strainer.
6.Pour the mixture into a large bowl (which fits into a steamer basket) or into four small cups.
7.Prepare the steamer basket, heat up the water, put the bowl (or cups) in the steamer basket and cook for 15 minutes (large bowl) or 10 minutes (cups) over low heat.
8.If the centre of the mixture is still a little runny, continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes and check again.
9.Distribute the clams on top of the custard and cook for another 1 minute.
10.Remove the bowl or cups, drizzle with the soy sauce and oil and sprinkle with chives.
11.DASHI
12.Pour the water into a saucepan and soak the kombu for at least 30 minutes (or overnight).
13.Then heat the water for about 15 minutes over low heat until it is simmering.
14.Remove the kombu just before boiling (to avoid the overly salty taste of the kombu in the dashi) and add the katsuobushi.
15.Cook for 1 minute and turn off the heat. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
16.Filter the dashi into a large bowl using a strainer.
17.Press gently to extract as much dashi as possible.
18.Dashi will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator and 1 month in the freezer.

Recipes and images extracted
from Japanese Home
Cooking by Maori Murota.
Photography by Akiko Ida.
RRP $55. Out now.

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