My Christmas was nice. And a few days before I had a Japanese day with my lovely friend Mako.

First we went out to lunch to a Japanese Restaurant called "Akari". I had the Teishoku menu, chicken katsu, which came with Miso soup, pickled veggies, rice and tea.

It was really good. Mako had yakisakana (grilled fish) and that was good too. It was not cheap but still under 10€ each which I think is doable every now and then.

After that we went to Mako´s place. She and her husband live about a five min walk from where I used to live with my mother so going there was already fun and I even felt a bit nostalgic.

We had tea, cookies and then M proceeded to teach me how to make perfekt Chawan Mushi, a traditional japanese dish that I once tried to make and kinda failed.

4 Eggs

about 500ml water

Dashi (japanese Bonito Soupstock)

Sugar

Soysauce

You can put in whatever you feel like, we went with:

Shitake Mushrooms

Prawns

fake crab meat

we also sprinkled Yuzu, a japanese citrus fruit and herbs called "Mitsuba" on it.

What did we do? Well, actually, Mako did. I just stood around, got in the way and tried to memorize everything.
Soak Shitake in water unless you can afford to buy fresh ones. Then let them simmer in a pot on low heat in soysauce and a bit of sugar. This, once again, is according to your tastes. It was a lot of fun to see Mako cook the same way I do, just throwing things in...

Stir the eggs together.

Bring the water to a boil and mix in the Dashi (which should be available at any asian supermarket. It´s pretty essential thing in the japanese kitchen). Mako also saltened the Dashi which seems like a good idea to me.
Once the water has cooled down add the eggs. It should still stay liquid, so the water can be warm but really not hot. Get off any foam you get. No bubbles allowed!
Take small bowls (unless you have proper cool Chawan Mushi Bowls), place whatever you want inside in. We had those yummy, yummy Shitake (mmmh), fake crab meat and Prawns.

Fill the bowls with the egg-Dashi-mixture.

Cover bowls with tinfoil.

Steam for 15 Minutes.

Eat & Enjoy.

Sounds easy, right? Well, the trick is, to get the royale like stuff to not get bubbly inside. When I tried I had a gazillion bubbles in it and even though it was tasty enough, the housewife that´s hiding inside me wasn´t satisfied at all. I guess, the trick is, how you steam it. I´m guessing some kind of device to keep the bowls above the water instead of putting it in helps. Here you can get chinese steaming baskets for cheap at asian supermarkets. Or you do it the fancy way and buy a pot with a steaming basket like the ones they have at IKEA.

Don´t let any water touch your food while steaming. That makes bubbles on the surface. Not altering the taste but stealing satisfaction.

I´ll be sure to try this at home very soon. It´s easy, doesn´t take a lot of time, and you can vary as much as you like. Add chicken, salmon (or any other fish), other veggies...

And I was told not to let the egg-Dashi-mixture get too watery or too eggy. Mmmhhh... Okay.

まこ、茶碗蒸しの作り方を教えてくれて本当にありがとうございました！

Shitake simmering & being yummy!

The one perfect, non-bubbly bowl we got. And we forgot mitsuba and yuzu. :/