Chawanmushi is a Japanese dish prepared by pouring beaten egg mixed with dashi broth into a steaming bowl together with other ingredients and steamed. As its name suggests, the dish chawanmushi (literally, “steamed egg custard in teacup”) has been named as such based on its cooking method of steaming the entire cup with the ingredients inside.
It is said that the roots of chawanmushi can be traced to around 1690, when it was first served as a dish to people at Tojin Yashiki (literally, “Chinese settlement”) in Nagasaki, where exclusive trade with China was conducted. Although chawanmushi generally refers to any dish in which the ingredients, dashi broth, beaten egg, and seasoning are added to a cup that is then steamed individually, many variations exist in terms of the ingredients used to make chawanmushi. For instance, various ingredients are used in different regions to create variations such as odamakimushi (which contains udon noodles) and kuyamushi (which contains tofu).
Despite being a simple Japanese dish made with fresh ingredients and dashi broth, which can be considered the essence of Japanese cuisine, chawanmushi is an iconic dish of Japan that allows you to enjoy the delicious flavors of Japanese food culture in an accessible way.