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1
Combine the cold eggs and cold dashi in a bowl. Add the shiro shoyu and salt. Mix gently — avoid vigorous whisking, which incorporates excessive air. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove all fibrous strands from the egg white. Skim any white foam from the surface with a spoon. The mixture should be smooth, pale, and completely uniform.
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2
Distribute the pre-cooked chicken, raw prawns, shiitake caps, gingko nuts, and lily bulb petals among four lidded chawanmushi cups. Pour the cold egg-dashi mixture over the fillings, dividing equally. The cups should be filled to just below the rim. Place the ceramic lids on the cups.
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3
Bring the steamer to full heat. Place the filled, lidded cups inside. Set the steamer lid slightly ajar — a gap of approximately 1 cm — to allow regulated release of steam pressure and prevent temperature from exceeding the coagulation threshold. Steam on high heat for precisely 2 minutes: the surface of the custard should just begin to lose its liquid sheen and show the faintest tremble of initial set.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Reduce steam to low heat. Continue steaming, lid still slightly ajar, for 12–14 minutes. The custard is done when a bamboo skewer inserted at the centre withdraws with only faint, clear liquid clinging to it — never raw egg, never solid resistance. The surface must be mirror-smooth, without a single pit or bubble. Any pitting ('rabbit holes') is irrecoverable and signals steam was too vigorous.
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5
Remove the cups from the steamer. Place one or two sprigs of mitsuba on the surface of each cup immediately — the residual heat of the custard is sufficient to wilt them gently. Replace the ceramic lids. Serve at approximately 65–70°C: warm rather than hot. The custard should tremble visibly when the cup is moved.