Chawan-mushi

AKA Steamed Egg Custard

I bought a new Japanese cookbook from Amazon, and received it on Saturday... so by Sunday, I was really itching to use it. I thought the perfect opportunity would be to try to make the egg custard for breakfast... since I always like breakfast to involve eggs. =)

I'd never made a custard before, and I was really happy with how they turned out. I also didnt have a steamer deep enough to hold bowls, so I had to jerry rig my wok, and use my saute pan (which happened to fit perfectly over top of my wok!) as a lid!
But everything worked fine!

So here we go-

INGREDIENTS
1 chicken thigh
2 fresh shitake mushrooms
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
6 shelled ginko nuts
4 slices kamaboko

FOR THE CUSTARD
2 eggs
1.5 cups dashi stock
1 tsp sake
2/3 tsp salt
1 tsp light soy sauce

Marinate for 10 minutes the shitake and chicken in 1/2 tsp soy sauce.
Combine ingredients for custard, do no beat the eggs, lightly stir with chop sticks.
Place in the two bowls the chicken thigh and shitake. Fill bowl 1/4 of the way full with custard then place the bowls on top of a place in a wok for steaming, or if you happen to have a steamer deep enough, do it that way.

Steam custards over high heat (lid sealed) for 1 minute, then reduce the heat (or open the lid a tad) and cook for another 15 mins. Test for doneness by inserting a bamboo chopstick, liquid should be clear.

Add ginko nuts, kamaboko and remaining custard and steam for another 5 minutes.
Garnish with a small leafy green such as mitsuba (Japanese parsely) or watercress.