Chawanmushi is a savoury egg custard dish in Japanese cuisine. Unlike many other custards, it is usually eaten as a dish in a meal, as chawanmushi contains savory rather than sweet ingredients. The custard consists of an egg mixture seasoned with soy sauce, dashi, and mirin, with numerous ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko, yuri-ne, ginkgo and boiled shrimp placed into a tea-cup-like container. The recipe for the dish is similar to that of Chinese steamed eggs, but the toppings often differ. Since egg custards cannot be picked up by chopsticks, it is one of the few Japanese dishes that are eaten with a spoon.
