Piggy Chawamushi 小豬茶碗蒸

Kamaboko/蒲鉾/かまぼこ, it's a type of processed seafood product usually made with white meat fish. The deboned fish gets processed into paste-like texture, commonly formed into semicircle shape on top of a wooden plate then steamed. You can most certainly see sliced kamaboko in Japanese steamed egg, also known as chawamushi. Kamaboko can also be found in some instant noodle cups.

I was looking for a regular kamaboko to use in this recipe, but it came as a big block, more than needed, and the only few smaller portion options were way too cute. My goal was to use all the ingredients at once, no leftover, so I surrendered to piggy shaped smaller package kamaboko.

Piggy chawamushi 小豬茶碗蒸 -

Ingredients (about 4 portions)?

• 4 eggs
• 2 shiitake mushrooms 
• 8 slices kamaboko
• 8 to 16 peeled and deveined shrimp
• Few cilantro leaves

Dashi/stock -

• 3-inch long kombu
• 1 dried shiitake mushroom
• 1 handful katsuobushi
• 4 teaspoons twice-condensed tsuyu
• 600ml water

How?

Keep this basic water to egg ratio in mind, 150ml water to 1 egg for one serving. So for 4 portions, 600ml water with 4 eggs.

I made the dashi from scratch. However, it can be substituted with water mixed with dashi powder.

Also the shrimp I got were on the smaller side, so I used few more shrimp per serving. If using larger shrimp, one or two per chawamushi should be good enough.

Start with dashi. Prepare a small bowl of water to soak the dried shiitake mushroom. Once the mushroom softens, transfer the shiitake into a medium pot. Measure the mushroom water first then pour into the pot. Pour in additional water so the total liquid reaches 600ml. 

Bring it to a boil then turn to low heat. Add in dried kombu and katsuobushi. Soak for about 5 minutes then turn off the heat. Continue to soak for another 5 minutes. Drain and wait till the dashi cools down. Add in tsuyu to lightly flavor the dashi. Don't worry about the dashi will reach over 600ml after adding tsuyu, since some of it was lost during the boiling process.

Beat four eggs. Remove mushroom stems and slice the caps. Pick out few pretty looking cilantro leaves.

Prepare four chawamushi cups or small bowls. Evenly arrange ingredients to these four servings. I tried to keep the piggy kamaboko on top so it'll show up on the surface after steaming.

Strain the beaten egg and evenly pour in to serving containers. Carefully garnish with cilantro leaves.

Steam for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Be creative with the ingredients used in chawamushi, such as cooked chicken, ginkgo nuts, and scallops. If not too familiar with chawamushi, try to stick with 150ml liquid to 1 egg ratio. Have fun cooking!


Other egg recipes:

• Protein loaded post - workout meal using avocado, broccoli, eggs, and salmon
• Ham and cheese tamagoyaki 火腿起司玉子燒