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Onsen tamago
Hot spring eggs
Onsen tamago (温泉卵): hot-spring eggs with a custardy yolk, served in cool dashi and soy
In hot-spring towns like Beppu and Kusatsu, ryokan guests find a little bowl beside their breakfast rice: an egg cooked slowly in the spring water, its white barely holding together and its yolk thick like custard, sitting in a splash of seasoned dashi. At home you copy the hot spring with a pan of water held well below the boil. The mistake almost everyone makes is using water that is too hot, which gives an ordinary soft-boiled egg with a set white; keep it at about 70 °C. This version uses a kombu and shiitake dashi, so it stays vegetarian. Because the eggs are only partly set, cook eggs fully for anyone pregnant, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: take the eggs out of the fridge 30 minutes early, because a cold egg drops the water temperature and the yolk stays raw.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the eggs
- 4 eggsat room temperature
- 2 litres water
- 1 cup cold waterfor stopping the eggs cooking
For the dashi
- ⅛ oz dried kombua 5 cm square
- 2 dried shiitake mushroomsmall
- ¾ cup water
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 spring onionvery thinly sliced
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Soak ⅛ oz dried kombu and 2 dried shiitake mushroom in ¾ cup water for at least 30 minutes (or overnight in the fridge). Bring to a bare simmer over a low heat, lift out the kombu just before it boils, and simmer the mushrooms for 3 minutes.
5 minStep 2: Strain the dashi, stir in 2 tbsp light soy sauce and 1 tsp sugar until dissolved, and leave it to cool.
Step 3: Bring 2 litres water to the boil in a large pan, take it off the heat and add 1 cup cold water. Check with a thermometer: you want 68–158°F.
Step 4: Lower 4 eggs gently into the water, put the lid on and leave them off the heat for 15–17 minutes. If the water falls below 149°F, set the pan over the lowest heat for a minute.
17 minStep 5: Lift the eggs into a bowl of cold water for 1 minute so they stop cooking.
1 minStep 6: Crack each egg into a small bowl: the white should be milky and soft and the yolk thick but still glossy. If the white is still clear and runny, put the rest back in the water for 3 more minutes.
Step 7: Spoon 2–3 tablespoons of the cool dashi over each egg, scatter with 1 spring onion and eat with a spoon alongside rice.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 95 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 3 g
- Fat
- 5 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
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Good to know
- How long does onsen tamago take?
- About 30 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of eggs?
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water per egg, left for 5 minutes (baking only; vegan).
- What can I use instead of dried shiitake mushroom?
- Aubergine, diced, same weight.
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