Recipe: Dashi, crab and spring vegetable chawanmushi

Recipe: Dashi, crab and spring vegetable chawanmushi

45m prep | 30m cook

Last updated

Japanese food is famed and beloved for its clean complexity, with recipes that have been honed for generations, combining exceptional ingredients in pursuit of a harmony of flavours.

It's a philosophy epitomised by dashi, a subtle but savoury stock that forms the base of soups, sauces, vinaigrettes, poaching liquids and chawanmushi; a savoury egg custard spiked with chicken, fish or whatever seasonal bounty is at its best. 

While there are dozens of dashi varieties, made by poaching a range of ingredients in gently warming water, the most ubiquitous is Awase Dashi ('Mixed dashi').

Sheets of kombu (dried kelp) are steeped in cold or gently warming water, the stock then infused with dried bonito shavings. The results are a gently oceanic, mildly smoky broth that's perfect for the seafood, mushroom and spring vegetable flavours in this delicate, delicious steamed custard.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

FOR THE DASHI:
  • 4 cups water
  • 10-15g sheet(s) kombu
  • 1 cup (10g) dried bonito flakes
FOR THE MUSHROOMS
  • 12-16 whole dried shiitake mushrooms, as small as possible
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 2 tbsp mirin (a sweet Japanese rice wine)
  • 1 tbsp mushroom soy sauce (or shoyu)
FOR THE CUSTARD
  • 3 fresh, free range eggs
  • 1 tsp shoyu
  • 1 tsp mirin
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 250g pre-cooked crab meat (alternatively, use raw shelled prawns or whole raw scallops)
  • 150g fresh peas, broad beans, radish or other spring vegetable
TO SERVE
  • Japanese pickles
  • Shichimi togarashi (red pepper and sesame seasoning)
  • Small coriander leaves

To make the dashi, cut some slits into the edges of the kombu, then leave to soak in 4 cups room temperature water for 4-5 hours (optional). Transfer to a saucepan over a low heat and warm the water and kombu gently, scooping and discarding any white foam off the surface.

Take the pan off the heat just before it begins to boil, and remove the kombu (this can be dried and reused to make a slightly weaker dashi known as Niban - or 'second' - dashi).

Add the bonito flakes to the water, return the pan to a low heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and leave the bonito to steep for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the flakes have all sunk to the bottom of the pot. Strain, gently squeezing any excess liquid from the bonito, and leave the liquid to cool (the bonito can be dried and used to make furikake).

Prepare the mushrooms by soaking them in boiling water for thirty minutes. Transfer the mushrooms to a small saucepan, then pass the soaking liquid through a strainer and into the pot (to remove any dirt particles). Add the shoyu and mirin, and bring to a simmer over a low heat. Simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside until needed.

Add 3 eggs to 400ml room temperature dashi, along with the mirin, shoyu and salt, and whisk well to combine. Pass the mix through a fine sieve into a jug. 

Prepare four small heat proof bowls. Lay some crab (or prawn or scallop) in the base of each, along with three mushrooms and a scattering of peas (or other chosen vegetables). Pour dashi/egg mixture slowly into the bowls over the other ingredients. 

Cover each bowl with aluminium foil, and place in a pan deep enough that the bowls will fit inside with the lid in place. Pour water in the pan around the bowls until it reaches 1cm below the lip of the bowls. Place the lid on the pot loosely (so that it doesn't entirely cover the top of the pot), and slowly bring the water to a gentle rolling simmer.

Reduce the heat and poach for 15 minutes. 

Extract the bowls carefully from the water, remove the foil, and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Top with Japanese pickles (available from Asian grocers), a sprinkling of shichimi togarashi and a few coriander leaves. 

 

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