Chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し) is a Japanese term for a dish consisting of egg custard with vegetables, ginnan (ぎんなん, Gingko nuts) and usually chicken.
Unlike many other custards, it is usually eaten as a dish in a meal, as chawanmushi contains savoury rather than sweet ingredients. The custard consists of an egg mixture flavoured with soy sauce, dashi, and mirin, with numerous ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko (蒲鉾), yuri-ne (lily root), ginkgo and boiled shrimp placed into a tea-cup-like container. The recipe for the dish is similar to that of Chinese steamed eggs, but the toppings often differ. Since egg custards cannot be picked up with chopsticks, it is one of the few Japanese dishes that is eaten with a spoon. Chawanmushi can be eaten either hot or cool. When udon is added as an ingredient, it is called odamaki mushi (おだまき蒸し) or odamaki udon.
Unlike many other custards, it is usually eaten as a dish in a meal, as chawanmushi contains savoury rather than sweet ingredients. The custard consists of an egg mixture flavoured with soy sauce, dashi, and mirin, with numerous ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko (蒲鉾), yuri-ne (lily root), ginkgo and boiled shrimp placed into a tea-cup-like container. The recipe for the dish is similar to that of Chinese steamed eggs, but the toppings often differ. Since egg custards cannot be picked up with chopsticks, it is one of the few Japanese dishes that is eaten with a spoon. Chawanmushi can be eaten either hot or cool. When udon is added as an ingredient, it is called odamaki mushi (おだまき蒸し) or odamaki udon.
