Tenshin-han is one of the go-to items people order at Chinese restaurants in Japan. It’s a flat round omelette served on top of rice with Ankake (a type of thick gravy sauce), and has crab meat mixed into the eggs—the dish is also called Kani-tama, which literally means crab and eggs. A lot of Japanese people believe it originally came from Tenshin (Tianjin, China), although it’s a Japanese-born Chinese dish, which you will never see in any part of China. So, this is another perfect example of Chinese food evolved to suit the local taste. A good Tenshin-han has a fluffy and silky crab omelette that disintegrates in your mouth. The gravy enhances the flavour of the eggs and crab, harmonising them perfectly with rice.
-INGREDIENTS- (Makes 2 on omelettes)
4 eggs
2 Shiitake mushrooms
60g crab meat or imitation crab
1 green onion
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 pinches salt
2 pinches Ajinomoto
a touch of white pepper
500g freshly steamed rice
<sauce>
500ml Chinese chicken stock (or Weipa Stock)
Salt to taste
2 tsp sesame oil
Katakuriko slurry (mix 2 tbsp of Katakuriko and water)
-METHOD-
Bring 500ml of chicken stock to a boil and season with the salt. Slowly add the Katakuriko slurry, stirring the stock to thicken the sauce. Add the sesame oil and stir to mix. Turn off the heat and leave it aside.
Thinly slice the Shiitake mushrooms. Tear the crab meat or imitation crab into thin strips. Bias slice the green onion.
When making the omelette, make sure to do one serving at a time. Beat two eggs and add a pinch of salt, Ajinomoto and a touch of white pepper. Add half of the crab meat (keep a bit for garnishing), Shiitake and green onion and mix well.
Put 250g of the steamed rice in a deep plate. Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in an nonstick pan over a medium heat. Add the egg mixture at once and stir rapidly to scramble. When the eggs are half set, turn down the heat to low and cook for a minute or until it’s 80% set on the top surface.
Slide the omelette on top of the rice. Reheat the gravy and pour over half of it on the omelette. Garnish it with the remaining crab meat. Also watch and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more Japanese recipes!
Comments