Chawan Mushi (a mushroom variation)

24Aug09

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In Japan, chawan mushi is a very popular savory custard. There are even special cups with lids for preparing and serving the dish. The traditional recipe is made with dashi, eggs, and chicken, shrimp, and mushrooms plus seasonal ingredients like gingko nuts, mitsuba, yuzu citron, kinome, or lily buds. This recipe is a variation of [...]

Filed under: Eggs, Japanese Food, Mushimono, Soups, Steaming, Suimono   |  1 Comment
Tags: chawan-mushi, Japanese Cooking

Ebi-shinjo: Shrimp Dumplings

15May09

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Success!!! I posted about ebi-shijo (shrimp quenelles) quite a while ago, but I was very disappointed in the way they turned out. A suggested that she had eaten ebi-shinjo that were much simpler, so I approached the re-make of this recipe with that in mind.
comment on that postI think the biggest problem with the original recipe is that there is just too much liquid.
I didn’t care for the chewy texture of the mushrooms, so I left them out.
I wanted smaller dumplings, so I didn’t boil them wrapped in parchment, nor did I try to deep-fry them. I think these dumplings would have held together in the hot oil, and I may try that some other time; they would make a nice appetizer! Shizuo Tsuji, in his book :Practical Japanese Cooking, has a recipe for crab balls in a clear soup (with a variation for shrimp) which looks interesting—his technique uses plastic wrap to keep the (large) dumplings smooth while cooking in the boiling water.
The shiso flavoring was overwhelming in the original recipe, so I used some lovely garlic chives from my garden just for color.

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Filed under: Fish and Seafood, Japanese Food, Nimono, Simmering, Snacks, Soups, Suimono   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Japanese Cooking, shrimp

Ozoni: New Year’s Day Soup

02Jan09

In Japan, it’s traditional to eat a soup with rice cakes on New Year’s Day. I made a very simple version, but after doing some on-line research, it’s apparent that there are many delicious variations that I’d like to try.

Filed under: Japanese Food, Soups, Suimono   |  7 Comments
Tags: Japanese Cooking, Japanese Recipes, kamaboko, Mochi, Ozoni