Tenshinhan: Easy Crab Stick Omelette Rice Bowl [Recipe]

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Tenshinhan (also called tenshindon) is a Japanese-style crab omelette rice bowl. It is hard to find in Korea, but Japanese-style Chinese restaurants commonly serve this very simple dish. Today’s version uses crab sticks, so it is easy to make at home. Pour a sweet and sour, thick ankake sauce over a fluffy egg omelette and you already have a hearty meal. Let’s get right into the recipe.

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📋 At a Glance

• Dish: Tenshinhan (tenshindon)
• Type: Japanese-style crab omelette rice bowl (a simple dish commonly sold at Japanese-style Chinese restaurants)
• Servings: 1 (with plenty of ankake sauce)
• Main ingredients: 1 bowl of rice, 2 eggs, 2 imitation crab sticks, 1 tbsp chopped green onion, 1 tsp tsuyu, ankake sauce (200ml water, soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce, chicken stock powder, sugar, vinegar, starch), optional toppings (shrimp, carrot, onion, scallion and more)
• Tools: a frying pan, a pot, a whisk (or a spoon), a ladle
• Time: 10 minutes prep + about 10 minutes cooking
• Difficulty: on the easy side — a super simple version made with easy-to-find crab sticks (the original needs real crab and the hand skill to fry a fluffy egg)
• Key point: cook only the underside of the egg lightly, and thicken the ankake sauce at the end with a starch slurry

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Super Easy Tenshinhan: The Ingredients

The traditional way means preparing real crab and frying the egg until fluffy, so it takes some hand skill. This version uses crab sticks, which are easy to find anywhere, and still looks quite impressive. I made plenty of sauce, and any leftover is great poured over rice. For reference, I cooked two servings here.

[Ingredients for 1 Serving]

• 1 bowl of rice
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp chopped green onion
• 2 imitation crab sticks
• 1 tsp tsuyu (Japanese noodle sauce)
• A little salt
• A little cooking oil

[Ankake Sauce (Generous Batch)]

• 200ml water
• 1.5 to 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp starch (mixed into 1 tbsp of water)

[Optional Toppings]

• Shrimp, carrot, onion, scallion and more (to taste)

[Recipe Summary]

1. Finely chop the green onion and prep any toppings you like, such as shrimp, crab sticks, carrot and onion.
2. Mix 200ml of water with 1.5 to 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of mirin, 1 tsp of oyster sauce, 1 tsp of chicken stock powder, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of vinegar to make the ankake sauce. (Don’t add the starch yet.)
3. Beat 2 eggs well with 1 tbsp of chopped green onion, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of tsuyu.
4. Warm the ankake sauce over low heat until it just starts to simmer.
5. Oil a frying pan, pour in the egg mixture and cook only the underside lightly over medium heat, then place the imitation crab sticks on top.
6. Pour a starch slurry (2 tsp of starch mixed into 1 tbsp of water) into the sauce to thicken it to a rich consistency.
7. Put 1 bowl of rice in a dish, top it with the egg and pour the ankake sauce over it.
8. Finish with the toppings of your choice.

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🍳 The key is to cook only the underside of the egg lightly so it stays soft. A soft-set egg is even moister, but a lightly cooked one is delicious too.

🥣 Heat the ankake sauce before adding the starch slurry, then pour the slurry in at the end to set the consistency. Adding the starch from the start can make it clump.

🦀 Using shrimp instead of imitation crab sticks gives a much better flavor. Prepping the shrimp and vegetable toppings ahead of time makes things easier.

🍚 Frozen fried rice, stir-fried once, also goes well here. Leftover ankake sauce is delicious poured over rice, too.

🥚 Two eggs is the usual amount, but if you want a generous serving, going up to 3 or 4 works well.

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⏱️ Prep time: 10 minutes

⏱️ Cooking time: about 10 minutes

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Choosing Toppings, Eggs and Rice to Taste

For toppings, I prepared only large green onion and scallion. Adding several kinds would surely be nice, but personally I found this much plenty. Two eggs per serving is the usual, but if you want a generous bowl, use 3 or 4. For the crab sticks, buy whichever kind you like. Plain white rice is fine, and frozen vegetable fried rice, stir-fried once, goes well too.

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Prepping the Ingredients

Let’s start with the prep. Chop the vegetables you’ll use as toppings. They don’t need to be minced; since they’re just sprinkled on top, chop them as finely as is practical. I chopped scallion and large green onion.

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Shredding the Crab Sticks and Prepping the Miso Soup

I kept it simple with crab sticks. There’s no need to cut them. Press down on them with the side of a knife and they loosen along the grain. Then pull them apart by hand, and they tear neatly along the grain.

Just as Chinese restaurants in Korea serve egg soup with fried rice, a simple soup on the side would be nice here too. For Korean tastes, jjamppong (Korean-Chinese noodle soup) broth would probably be the best match. Ha. For now, though, I prepared miso soup. I added a little of the chopped scallion to it as well. I’m only getting it ready for now, and I’ll pour in hot water at the very end, once the cooking is done.

Preparing the Ankake Sauce and Egg Mixture

Next, the ankake sauce. In a suitable pot, I combined 200ml of water, 1.5 to 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of mirin, 1 tsp of oyster sauce, 1 tsp of chicken stock powder, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of vinegar.

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Stir with a spoon or a whisk until the chicken stock powder dissolves. The starch that gives the sauce its thick texture goes in later, after the sauce has been warmed once, so there’s no need to mix it in now.

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Now the egg mixture. Add a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of tsuyu to 2 eggs and beat well with a whisk, just as before. You might wonder whether tsuyu belongs in eggs, but it gives the egg a subtle savory depth.

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I also added 1 tbsp of chopped green onion to the egg mixture. It’s optional, so feel free to leave it out. Ha. And that’s the prep done. For this dish, this much is plenty to enjoy tenshinhan.

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Cooking Step by Step

First, heat the ankake sauce, then cook the egg. Warm the pot of sauce slowly over very low heat, thinking of it as “warming” it until just before it boils. If it comes to a hard, overflowing boil, the sauce will burn, so watch out for that. While the sauce warms, add a moderate amount of cooking oil to a frying pan, heat it over low heat and pour in the egg mixture.

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Cook the egg over medium heat, setting only the underside lightly. Cook it just until it slides off the pan naturally when you swirl it. When the top is still slightly undercooked, place the crab sticks on it. Only the underside should cook, which keeps the texture soft and moist. If the top is too raw, cover the pan with a lid or something similar and cook it just a little longer. Note that you can only make one at a time, so for 2 servings, prepare 2 pans and cook them together.

Thickening the Sauce with a Starch Slurry

I did this separately because I was filming the recipe. While the egg slowly cooks, mix 2 tsp of starch into 1 tbsp of water to make a slurry. When the ankake sauce just starts to simmer, turn off the heat, pour in the slurry and stir gently with a ladle. The sauce will thicken.

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Topping the Rice with Egg and Sauce

Once the fried egg and the ankake sauce are both done, put a bowl of rice in a suitable dish and place the egg on top. Sprinkle more topping vegetables, large green onion or scallion, over the top.

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Then spoon the thickened ankake sauce evenly over the egg. Don’t be shy about it: pour it on generously to really enjoy the dish. A slightly wide, shallow dish makes it look better. A shortage of sauce is worse than having some left over, so I made a generous batch in this recipe.

Finally, pour hot water into the miso soup prepared earlier and stir it in well. And that’s it, done. With the miso soup alongside, you’ll have a warm, satisfying meal.

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Photo Gallery of the Finished Dish

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The Finished Tenshinhan

And here is the finished tenshindon. Scoop up the fluffy egg and the rich tenshinhan sauce together with the rice, and you’ll enjoy a flavor different from the usual egg-and-rice meal. Plain rice is the easiest option. Still, you can also stir-fry frozen vegetable fried rice once, or use leftover large green onion to make aromatic oil and stir-fry the rice in it. Arrange it however you like, because the right way to cook is whatever tastes best to you.

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The savory flavor of the gently fried egg, the umami of the tsuyu inside, the umami of the crab sticks and the sweet and sour, thick ankake sauce all come together. Even one spoonful, and the rice goes down easily.

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Chef Lee Yeon-bok’s version, made with shrimp instead of crab sticks, is also quite tasty. Feel free to arrange it your own way. If the sauce runs short while you eat, pour on another generous helping. A Japanese-style Chinese dish you can whip up with ingredients you already have at home: this is a flavor you won’t regret.

To read more about tenshinhan, also known as tenshindon, see the Wikipedia article on tenshindon.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can I use shrimp instead of crab sticks in tenshinhan?

Yes, shrimp works as a swap. Using shrimp instead of imitation crab sticks gives a much better flavor, and you can add toppings such as shrimp, carrot, onion and scallion to taste.

Q. How long does tenshinhan take to make?

Prep takes 10 minutes and cooking takes about 10. You chop the toppings and tear the crab sticks by hand, and the ankake sauce only needs to be mixed and warmed.

Q. How do I cook the egg so it stays soft?

Set only the underside lightly over medium heat. Put the crab sticks on while the top is still slightly undercooked, and if the top needs more time, cover the pan with a lid or something similar and cook it just a little longer. You can only make one at a time, so for 2 servings, prepare 2 pans.

Q. How do I keep the ankake sauce from clumping?

Add the starch at the end as a slurry, not at the start. Once the sauce just starts to simmer, turn off the heat, pour in a slurry of 2 tsp of starch mixed into 1 tbsp of water and stir gently with a ladle. Adding the starch from the beginning can make it clump.