Salmon and Mushroom Steamed Eggs 香菇鮭魚蒸蛋
Steamed eggs, or 茶碗蒸し Chawanmushi, is a beloved Japanese dish. It is one of my fav ways of enjoying eggs growing up. I love the silky texture and the umami heavy broth. It’s a very common food, you can make at home, find it in many restaurants, and even in corner bodegas. I love when I open the bowl, the steam rushed out to your face and hit you with a stream of umami. With that aroma in my face (literally), I take a spoon and dig into that glossy surface and reach for whatever that’s hiding underneath. As a kid I always made sure I proportioned each bite in my plate or my bowl. Each bite needed to have the same amount of veggie, meat, and rice to go together. The same method goes to my steamed eggs too. I didn’t want to have too much filling left when most eggs were gone, so I needed to check what was there first and planned out my eating strategy before my first bite. Such a weird kid I was.
This recipe calls for salmon and mushroom, but people can get very creative in terms of what they put into the eggs. It really is a personal preference. And here I am using salmon for the protein, and mushroom for some extra umami. I used kombu broth here because for people who are keeping kosher. But I usually use chicken broth when making my steamed eggs. But any kind of broth works here. The preparation time is very minimal, within 15 minutes the dish could be ready for you to eat. An easy and fast recipe is always a winner in my house as I find them very weeknight meal planning friendly, and stress free.
Steamed Eggs with Fish and Mushroom 鮮魚香菇蒸蛋
Yield 2
Ingredients
Eggs 2 (about 100g) at room temperature
Kombu broth 200g at room temperature ** see notes
Salt ¼ tsp
Soy Sauce 1 tsp
Salmon 50g
Dried mushroom 2 florets
Snap peas (blanch and thinly sliced, to garnish)
Instructions
Soak the mushroom in the 200ml Kombu broth for about 1 hour until softened and then thinly slice the mushroom, reserve the broth.
Whisk the eggs and the broth until fully combined, at least 30 seconds. Take your time to whisk it, the more the eggs are broken down, the finer the texture will be later on.
Prepare two ramekins, divide the 50g salmon and place them in the bottom, place the sliced mushroom in. Pour the egg mixture into the ramekins through a fine sieve. This step is very crucial as it is the key to the silky texture later after the eggs are steamed.
Cover the ramekin tightly with plastic wrap **see notes. Steam over high heat for 8 minutes. Remove from heat, leave the basket covered, let it sit for 3 minutes off heat.
Once ready, carefully remove the ramekins from the steam basket, unwrap the plastic wrap. Garnish with the snap peas and serve warm.
Notes
To make the kombu broth, take 5g of kombu, wipe it clean. Add it into the pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove the kombu. Set the broth aside until ready to use.
Make sure to use microwave-safe plastic wrap.
