Poh's Kitchen Steamed egg custard

 You say 'chawanmushi', I say 'egg custard', let's call the whole thing off...

Wait a cotton-pickin' minute! Before we call it off, let me tell you about these egg custards. There are Chinese and Japanese versions of this dish ('chawanmushi' means 'teacup steamed' in Japanese), and it's one of those things that you'd think are a bit of a wishy-washy, not-quite-a-dinner type dish until you try it on a cold night and it warms you right up.

I had a beautifully smooth chawanmushi at Shoya restaurant in Melbourne, but have never thought to make it myself.  Then I spied the Poh's Kitchen version and was converted.  This recipe is from MasterChef runner-up Poh's new cookbook (the same recipe and photos are also in November delicious magazine).  Poh also writes that century or salted duck eggs can be added to the custard, and guess what? I had a duck egg on hand (what are the chances?!) so in it went.  It gave a real boost to the dish, so if you can find a suitable duck egg, please bung it in.

Steamed egg custard with prawns and shiitake
serves 4

Ingredients
160g prawn meat, chopped
2 tsp shaohsing (Chinese rice wine)
1/2 tsp caster sugar
pinch of white pepper
1 tsp soy sauce
4 large free-range eggs
1 1/4 cups (310ml) chicken stock
4 large or 12 small dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 mins, drained, squeezed, stems removed, sliced
1 century duck egg, chopped (optional)
1 spring onion, finely sliced
2 tsp light soy sauce

Method
1.  Half-fill a wok or saucepan with water. Top with a bamboo or metal steamer that will hold 4 small bowls or 1-cup ramekins. Bring the water to the boil then reduce to a simmer.
2.  Meanwhile, combine prawns, shaohsing, sugar. pepper and soy sauce and set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.
3.  In a bowl, briefly mix the eggs, chicken stock and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Hint: Use a pair of chopsticks to do slow figures of eight to mix; don't whisk heavily or bubbles will form.
4.  Divide prawns and marinade, shiitake, century duck egg (if using) and egg/stock mixture into the bowls and steam with the lid on for 7-10 minutes.  When done, the custards should be opaque and creamy in colour and still a bit wobbly.
5.  Remove bowls from the steamer and sprinkle with spring onion and some light soy sauce.  Serve while hot.

Recipe adapted from delicious (November 2010)

Ingredients, including eggs, prawns, shiitake mushrooms, spring onion, chicken stock, soy sauce and shaohsing wine. 

 I also added a century duck egg that I picked up on our tour of Cabramatta.  Look at the coffee-brown egg albumen. The yolk was a granite grey colour that would be scary if you didn't know what to expect!
The regular hen eggs are lightly whisked with chicken stock.

The egg custards can be prepared using ramekins or teacups.  It's a more substantial dish if you use 1-cup capacity bowls or ramekins, though.

Closeup view of the silky egg custard.

And can you see the star-shaped markings on the century duck egg? Like snowflakes...
The marinating of the prawns beforehand imparts a beautiful flavour to the meat and also the egg custard.