It's cold. It went from a light thin jacket weather to hoodie weather to this morning when I thought about maybe wearing my winter coat. I used to LOVE winter and cold weather.....until I moved to NYC from LA. I never needed a scarf or gloves in LA nor any super thick coats. But now once it dips into the 50s it's all the layers I can wear at one time, knee high socks, thermal undies, two beanies. But you know, it's also comfort food season. It's like gimme all the mac n'cheese, hotdish, beef stew, risotto, congee, lasagna, endless supply of fettuccine alfredo, and butternut squash soup!
My perfect cold day scenario is hugging a bowl of oyakoDON by the fireplace and it's snowing outside and I have a cup of green tea and maybe White Christmas is playing on TBS. Or Forrest Gump, TBS is always playing Forrest Gump.
You know who is also hugging a bowl (well not an actual bowl)? Cynthia of Two Red Bowls and her husband Andy. They recently welcomed their little boy, Luke. So in honor of this, Stephanie of i am a food blog and Alana of Fix Feast Flair put together a virtual welcome baby Luke celebration. They were super cool to put together a nice group of food bloggers (full list below) and we all made things in bowls! Fun! Here's what I cooked up: CHAWANMUSHI!
This is cold weather comfort food times 100. Chawanmushi is steamed egg custard. It's super easy to make. It's basically eggs and dashi and the filling/toppings can be whatever you like. Though I have mostly seen it with chunks of chicken, fish cakes, shiitake mushroom, and ginkgo nuts.
For any Japanese recipes I only trust one source and that's Francis of Cooking with Dog. Have you seen Francis in action?! The recipe from Francis makes 2 bowls but to be honest it all really depends on the size of your bowls. And for obvious reasons I had to tweak the recipe to make 3 bowls. I had searched through the internet, looking at other chawanmushi recipes and the key is the egg to dashi ratio. What you want to have is 1 cup of eggs to 3 cups of dashi. Just scramble the eggs in a bowl and pour it into a measuring cup. How ever much you get times 3 will be the amount of dashi you'll need. Simple!
Happy days y'all!
- I am a Food Blog | Mac and Kimcheese Dolsot Bibimbap
- Fix Feast Flair | Dishoom's Chicken Ruby Murray
- The Fauxmartha | Mom Lunches
- A Cozy Kitchen | Cornbread Chicken + Dumplings
- Cake Over Steak | Salted Caramel Chocolate Crackles
- The Pancake Princess | Stovetop Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- Snixy Kitchen | Chicken Pot Pie with Chestnut Biscuits
- Lady and Pups | Egg Florentine in Pullman "Bowls"
- Betty Liu | Honeynut Squash Congee
- Style Sweet CA | Date Bourbon Cinnamon Rolls
- Warm Vanilla Sugar | Broccoli Quinoa Bowl with Avocado Sauce
- A Beautiful Plate | Coconut Cauliflower Soup
- Girl Versus Dough | Tomato Grilled Cheese Soup
- Fork to Belly | A Big Hawaiian Fruit Bowl
- Wit & Vinegar | Jerk Chicken Chili
- Constellation Inspiration | Salted Egg Yolk Custard Mochi
- twigg studios | Katsu Udon Soup wth Popcorn Chicken Croutons
- Edible Perspective | Acorn Squash Bowls with Pears, Pecans, and Vanilla Bean Cream
- Coco Cake Land | Asian Bowl Cut Sugar Cookies
- Southern Souffle | Sorghum Apple Biscuits In A Bowl
- The Bojon Gourmet | Smoky Sweet Potato & Lentil Tortilla Soup
- Flourishing Foodie | Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup
- What should I eat for breakfast today | Little Bowl with Creamy Polenta, Cheese, Onions and Mushrooms
- Top with Cinnamon | Squash & Crispy Kale Bowls with Pomegranate and Miso-Ginger Dressing
- the broken bread | Roasted Celeriac + Fennel Soup
- Fig+Bleu | Cauliflower Harissa Soup
- my name is yeh | Corn Dog In A Bowl
- Crepes of Wrath | Mini Scallion Pancake Challah Buns
- O&O Eats | Persimmon Cobbler
- Chocolate + Marrow | Parsnip + Potato Soup with Crispy Pancetta
- With Food + Love | Caramelized Golden Beet Soup with Fall Roots + Garlicky Yogurt
- The Pig and Quill | Slow Cooker Pumpkin Curry Beef Stew
- Hungry Girl Por Vida | Rice Cooker Oats with Bruleed Bananas
RECIPE
Serves 3
- Cut up the chicken thigh into chunks. Each bowl should get at least 3-4 pieces of chicken. Marinate the chicken with 1 teaspoon of sake and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. Let sit for 10mins to 30mins.
- In a pot, add the 2.25 cups of water. Put on low heat on the stove. Add hondashi, sake, soy sauce, and pinch of salt. Stir to dissolve hondashi. No need to boil the water, just warm enough to dissolve the hondashi. You can use the microwave also. Take pot off the stove to let it cool.
- Scramble the eggs.
- Heat a pan up on medium flames on the stove. Add oil and brown the pieces of chicken. Don't worry about cooking them all the way through since you'll be steaming them later.
- Slice up shiitake, fish cakes, and scallions.
- Make sure the dashi broth has cooled down, you don't want to cook the eggs. Add eggs into dashi broth. Then pour the mixture through a sieve. This ensures a smoooooth custard.
ASSEMBLE!
- Place few pieces of chicken, shiitake, fish cakes, and scallions into each bowl. Pour in the egg/dashi broth.
- Get a steamer ready.
- Before putting the bowls into the steamer, wrap each one with plastic wrap.
- Put the bowls into the steamer and steam on high for 5 mins. Turn the heat down to low and steam for 13-15mins or until the custard is ready. Use a skewer or toothpick or chopstick to poke a hole in the custard. If the liquid is clear, it is done.
OPTIONAL!
- Sprinkle extra scallions or your favorite furikake or shichimi togarashi.
3 eggs
1 chicken thigh
Handful of shiitake mushroom
Few slices of your favorite fish cake
2.25 cups of water
2 teaspoons of hondashi
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of sake
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
Salt + pepper
Scallion
