Steamed egg (Chawanmushi)

I've been searching for all kinds of steam recipe as I want to try out my latest gadget, the "Magic Thermal Pot". One thing that I really would love to try for quite sometime now is steamed egg. Furthermore, I have a bunch of eggs sitting in the kitchen which I have to clear of as soon as possible before they turn bad.

I am not really familiar with steam dishes and as I will be having this alone, the following recipe is modified to be as simple as possible so I do not need to buy too many ingredients that I could not finish later.

Looking at the ingredients & methods below, it is not complicated at all.

Ingredients:
(yields 4 small cups)

8 small dried scallops (soaked until soft, water reserved)

4 Shiitake mushrooms (stalk removed, thinly sliced)
4 eggs

Stock:
2 cups water
1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tbsp light soy sauce

Pinch of salt
Dash of pepper

Garnishing:

1 stalk spring onion (chopped)

Method:

1) Wash the dried scallops and soak until soft. Reserve the water.

2) Add additional water to the reserved water to make 2 cups of water. This will be used as the stock.

3) Bring pot/ wok of water to boil.

4) Divide the scallops and mushrooms into 4 cups.

5) Mix Stock ingredients to the eggs and beat the mixture lightly with chopstick. Do not overbeat as this will create unsightly bubbles later on.

6) Strain the egg mixture into the cups.

7) Cover the cups with clingwrap.

8) Steam under low heat for 20 minutes or until the egg mixture sets.

Results:

The first attempt failed; the taste was great but the texture of the egg was not smooth. I guess it was my fault as I cooked under high heat and let it boiled away for around 5 minutes before transferring the pot to the outer pot. This taught me a lesson that I should follow the instructions carefully!

I made a 2nd attempt and this time I made sure I only put the cups in after I remove the pot from heat. It turned out really smooth and very very delicious.