29/1 Ebi-iri sukui-tamago no shumashi-jiru
Clear broth with poached egg and prawns
I discovered this recipe in the german version of Masterclass in Japanese Cooking by Emi Kazuko. I translated it from german and I changed the structure a little bit. I hope you enjoy it.
The recipe from YANAGIHARA Kazunari is as much a visual as a gustative pleasure. The longest and most essential part is to get the egg slowly firm which is a bit tedious but well worth the effort.
If you don't know dashi you don't know the most essential base product of japanese cuisine. Mostly it's made of dried bonito, known as katsuobushi and konbu (kelp) like in the below recipe*.
Richard Hosking says: "The best dashi is made by immersing katsuobushi shavings in boiling water for a short time and then straining off the liquid. When well made, this dashi has an incomparable aroma and goes particularly well with the sliver of citron peel (yuzu) in Japanese consommé (suimono)."
As for the japanese name of the recipe: it is called "sukui tamago" (to spoon egg) because the firm egg is put with a spoon into the clear broth. (By the way the homophone sukui means also help, relief, aid.)
For 4 Persons
4 prawns
2 soupspoon sake
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 matsutake or 4 small shiitake
100 g shungiku or fresh spinach
a sliver of yuzu or lime peel
For the egg-dashi
2 big whisked eggs
150 ml dashi* (see below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon shoyu (japanese sojasauce)
1 teaspoon mirin
For the soup
600 ml dashi* (see below)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bright shoyu
1) Take the head and intestines off the prawns. Mix sake and salt in a pot, heat and stir the prawns till they are blazing red. Shell the prawns and chop them into small pieces (1-2 cm).
2) Take the ingredients for the egg-dashi, mix them and sift them. Put one scoop of the egg-dashi in a cup and put it away for the moment.
3) Put the rest of the egg-dashi, respectively the bowl with the egg-dashi into a stewpot and let it stew during 30-35 minutes on low temperature, till it starts to get firm. Add the prawns and the remaining cup of the egg-dashi and let it stew for another 15-20 minutes, till the surface is firm.
4) Heat the dashi for the soup and add the salt and shoyu. Take off the heat, cover and keep it hot.
5) Clean the matsutake under cold water and dry with kitchen paper. Cut off the stem a bit, and cut into thin slices. If you take shiitake, cut off the stem and make starlike cuts on the top side.
Blanch the shungiku or spinach in boiling salty water shortly, take it out and cut into 4 cm long pieces.
6) Blanch the mushrooms in 100 ml dashi. As soon as the dashi starts to boil, take the pot off the heat and put the shungiku or spinach into it.
7) Cut the stewed egg into four pieces and put into four bowls of soup. Then add the mushrooms and the shungiku or spinach. Finally add carefully 2 scoops of dashi to every bowl and garnish with the yuzu or lime zest.
It's extremely important that the broth remains clear (that's the reason why the egg must be firm), so that you can see the beautiful colors of red prawns, the yellow egg, the green shungiku and the brownish mushrooms at the bottom of your black bowl.
* Dashi
10 cm dried konbu (kelp)
900 ml water
30 g dried bonito shavings
(kezuribushi)
Rinse the konbu quickly under cold water. Heat the konbu together with the water in a pot. Add the bonito shavings just before the boiling point and take the pot off the heat. Let it rest for a moment, till the bonito shavings sank to the bottom. Put through a sieve, laid out with kitchen paper.
I discovered this recipe in the german version of Masterclass in Japanese Cooking by Emi Kazuko. I translated it from german and I changed the structure a little bit. I hope you enjoy it.
The recipe from YANAGIHARA Kazunari is as much a visual as a gustative pleasure. The longest and most essential part is to get the egg slowly firm which is a bit tedious but well worth the effort.
If you don't know dashi you don't know the most essential base product of japanese cuisine. Mostly it's made of dried bonito, known as katsuobushi and konbu (kelp) like in the below recipe*.
Richard Hosking says: "The best dashi is made by immersing katsuobushi shavings in boiling water for a short time and then straining off the liquid. When well made, this dashi has an incomparable aroma and goes particularly well with the sliver of citron peel (yuzu) in Japanese consommé (suimono)."
As for the japanese name of the recipe: it is called "sukui tamago" (to spoon egg) because the firm egg is put with a spoon into the clear broth. (By the way the homophone sukui means also help, relief, aid.)
For 4 Persons
4 prawns
2 soupspoon sake
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 matsutake or 4 small shiitake
100 g shungiku or fresh spinach
a sliver of yuzu or lime peel
For the egg-dashi
2 big whisked eggs
150 ml dashi* (see below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon shoyu (japanese sojasauce)
1 teaspoon mirin
For the soup
600 ml dashi* (see below)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bright shoyu
1) Take the head and intestines off the prawns. Mix sake and salt in a pot, heat and stir the prawns till they are blazing red. Shell the prawns and chop them into small pieces (1-2 cm).
2) Take the ingredients for the egg-dashi, mix them and sift them. Put one scoop of the egg-dashi in a cup and put it away for the moment.
3) Put the rest of the egg-dashi, respectively the bowl with the egg-dashi into a stewpot and let it stew during 30-35 minutes on low temperature, till it starts to get firm. Add the prawns and the remaining cup of the egg-dashi and let it stew for another 15-20 minutes, till the surface is firm.
4) Heat the dashi for the soup and add the salt and shoyu. Take off the heat, cover and keep it hot.
5) Clean the matsutake under cold water and dry with kitchen paper. Cut off the stem a bit, and cut into thin slices. If you take shiitake, cut off the stem and make starlike cuts on the top side.
Blanch the shungiku or spinach in boiling salty water shortly, take it out and cut into 4 cm long pieces.
6) Blanch the mushrooms in 100 ml dashi. As soon as the dashi starts to boil, take the pot off the heat and put the shungiku or spinach into it.
7) Cut the stewed egg into four pieces and put into four bowls of soup. Then add the mushrooms and the shungiku or spinach. Finally add carefully 2 scoops of dashi to every bowl and garnish with the yuzu or lime zest.
It's extremely important that the broth remains clear (that's the reason why the egg must be firm), so that you can see the beautiful colors of red prawns, the yellow egg, the green shungiku and the brownish mushrooms at the bottom of your black bowl.
* Dashi
10 cm dried konbu (kelp)
900 ml water
30 g dried bonito shavings
(kezuribushi)
Rinse the konbu quickly under cold water. Heat the konbu together with the water in a pot. Add the bonito shavings just before the boiling point and take the pot off the heat. Let it rest for a moment, till the bonito shavings sank to the bottom. Put through a sieve, laid out with kitchen paper.
