Easy Slow Cooker Japanese Shrimp and Shiitake Egg Custards

I like opposites, the hottest summers against the coldest winters, city living so long as we
have a rural retreat, and so leaving behind the concrete and straight lines of our Chicago landscape is easy but then so is returning.

In a taste of things to come, we made a trip to the shores of Lake Michigan rock collecting for an end of year school funfair project. Looking out over the rolling waves from Lighthouse beach, it was hard to imagine that we’re landlocked and several hundreds of miles away from the real coastline. As the academic year comes to a grinding halt, we’re poised for our vacation and a family recalibration of sorts, beside the seaside!

This city is clever at hiding a patchwork of green space within it’s walls. Beyond our own backyard one of our favorite family spots throughout the year is The Japanese Garden tucked away on an island in the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It somehow retains its tranquility regardless of visitors, and settles my mind with the tidyness of combed gravel and perfectly manicured miniature trees appropriately sized against my young girls.

These sentiments are mirrored in Japanese cuisine and having recently been wowed by a Japanese Omakase (tasting menu) at Kai Zan with delicately assembled dishes like Uni and quail egg shooters, I adapted* this Chawan Mushi recipe to make a light and easy savory egg custard. With chives growing profusely in my herb garden and their purple blooms crying out for a dish worthy of their attention, I loved bringing these miniature elements together.

Ingredients

2 eggs
¾ cup dashi or chicken/vegetable broth
1 tbsp sake or dry white wine
2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 cup or 4 medium chopped shrimp
2 shiitake mushroom, sliced thinly
1 tbsp chopped chives and flowers or spring onion

In a medium bowl, stir the eggs gently with a chopsticks or a fork while slowly pouring in the dashi or chicken stock, sake/wine and soy sauce.

Divide the mushroom and shrimp evenly between small ramekins or cups. Pour the egg mixture into each cup until filled.

Place a small baking rack onto the base of your slow cooker or roll up and flatten a piece of aluminium foil for a similar effect (this allows the air to circulate.) Place the ramekin or cup in the bottom of your slow cooker on top of the foil and cook on low for 3 hours until set. Decorate with snipped chives and their flowers.

Makes a good light brunch dish served with thin slices of buttered toast or as a pretty appetizer, eaten hot or served chilled.

Looking Ahead
Join us next week from San Francisco Bay and a recipe from the garden of my friend Katie of Moms Kitchen Handbook.

Zen Toolkit
To avoid damaging the protein in eggs and making it tough and rubbery, they are best cooked on a low to medium heat.

Zen Moment
“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
-James Allen (New Zealand Minister of Defense (1912-20)

* recipe adapted from allrecipes.com, CONNIEL1M and The Food of Japan