Tenshinhan (天津飯) is a Chinese-influenced Japanese dish. The fluffy omelette with crab meat is placed on a mound of rice and the thick sauce poured over the omelette is so flavoursome. Crab Omelette on Rice is very easy to make.
Many people, including Japanese people, mistakenly think that Tenshinhan is Chinese food. It is indeed served at Chinese restaurants in Japan – it is a made-in-Japan dish, but it is derived from a Chinese omelette dish.
Why is it called Tenshinhan (天津飯)?
The name of the dish has nothing to do with the appearance or ingredients of the dish. Tenshin (天津) is the name of a city in China, although it is called ‘Tianjin’ in English. ‘Tenshin’ is the Japanese way of reading these characters.
Apparently, this dish is associated with the high-quality rice produced in Tianjin that was used by Japanese restaurants in the early Shōwa period – the era of supply shortages.
Today’s dish was originally called 天津芙蓉蛋飯 (Crab Omelette on Tenshin rice bowl) as the omelette was made like the Chinese omelette called Egg Foo Young (芙蓉蛋) and the rice was Tenshin rice (天津飯). But because the name is too long with complicated Kanji characters, it was abbreviated to 天津飯.
What is in the Crab Omelette on Rice (Tenshinhan)?
Tenshinhan is very simple and consists of three main ingredients – cooked rice, Crab Omelette and sweet thick sauce.
Since the omelette needs to cover all of the rice, it has to be a large round shape, unlike a Western-style omelette. On a plate, make a mound of cooked rice. Place an omelette on the rice, covering all of the rice, then pour on the thick sauce.
I used a jar of ready-to-eat blue swimmer crab meat as per the photo below. But if you cook a fresh crab and use the meat, that would taste better.
I like the surface of the round omelette soft, rather than well done. But if you prefer the eggs to be cooked through, that’s OK too.
Instead of adding chopped shallots to the omelette, some recipes decorate the surface of the omelette with green peas.
Alternative to Crab Meat – Kanikama
Since crab meat is quite expensive, Japanese people often substitute crab meat with imitation crab meat called ‘kanikama’ (蟹カマ).
It is a fish cake moulded into the shape of the leg meat of snow crab or Japanese spider crab. Naturally, the sticks are coloured to look like crab legs. It even has a hint of crab flavour.
High quality Kanikama is made in such way that when you shred the stick by hand, the shredded pieces look just like the real leg meat of a crab.
You can buy kanikama at Japanese/Asian grocery stores – usually frozen. Unfortunately, the kanikama I can buy in Sydney doesn’t have a strong crab flavour and does not shred as well as it should.
Here is the Tenshinhan using kanikama. It’s more colourful than the one using real crab meat. I included the kanikama version in the recipe too.
Tenshinhan Sauce
Without a thick sauce, it is not a Tenshinhan. Since the dish originated from a Chinese dish, the basis for the sauce is chicken stock, unlike a typical dashi-based Japanese-style sauce.
There are two different sauce flavours for Tenshinhan – a sweet & sour flavour and a sweet savoury flavour.
The former is often served in Kanto (関東, the eastern region of Japan that includes Tokyo and surrounding prefectures), and the latter is served in Kansai (関西, the western region of Japan that includes Osaka and Kyoto).
It’s just like Sydney vs Melbourne, there are so many things that Kanto and Kansai compete against each other over and go different directions!
The sweet and sour Tenshinhan sauce (Kanto-style) is made by mixing chicken stock, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and is thickened by cornflour/corn starch. To make the Kansai-style sweet savoury Tenshinhan sauce, replace the vinegar in the Kanto-style with cooking sake.
Some recipes add oyster sauce or tomato ketchup to the sauce. But I like it simple.
Crab Omelette on Rice (Tenshinhan) is a very easy dish to make. You will be amazed how the simple thick sauce makes this dish so flavoursome and special.
Yumiko

Tenshinhan is a Chinese-influenced Japanese dish. The fluffy omelette with crab meat is placed on the mound of rice. The sweet thick sauce poured over the omelette is so flavoursome.
The recipe gives you two options to make a Crab Omelette – using cooked crab meat and using kanikama (imitation crab sticks made from fish cake).
I also included two different sauces to pour onto the omelette – sweet & sour sauce and sweet savoury sauce. Pick whichever you like.
Total time does not include the time to cook rice.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 1 serving rice (150g/5.3oz, note 1)
- 2 eggs
- 40g / 1.4oz crab meat (note 2)
- 1 tbsp shallots/scallions , finely chopped (light green parts, note 3)
- A pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 eggs
- ¼ tsp ginger , finely chopped
- 40g / 1.4oz kanikama crab sticks , shredded by hand (note 4)
- A pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp green peas (frozen peas, defrosted)
- 80ml / 2.7oz water
- ½ tsp chicken stock powder
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1¼ tsp cornflour/corn starch
- 80ml / 2.7oz water
- ½ tsp chicken stock powder
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cooking sake
- 1¼ tsp cornflour/corn starch
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Put all the Tenshinhan Sauce ingredients (whichever sauce you pick) in a small saucepan, mix well and bring it to a boil.
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The sauce initially looks whitish but as the sauce is heated up and thickens, it becomes clear dark brown. Turn the heat off and leave until required.
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If the rice is not hot, warm it up in microwave. Put the rice in the centre of a serving bowl (shallow bowl or deep plate would be the best), making a flat dome-shape.
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Beat two eggs lightly in a bowl, add the crab meat, shallots and a tiny pinch of salt. Mix.
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Add oil to a small frying pan (I used 20cm / 8” pan, note 5) and heat it over medium high heat.
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Pour the egg mixture into the pan. The mixture starts setting on the outside immediately.
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Using a fork or cooking chopsticks, mix the egg mixture in a swirling motion, from outside to inside (note 4).
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When the egg is half cooked (it does not take long to get to this stage) and the surface is still a bit wet, turn the heat off.
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Beat two eggs lightly in a bowl with a tiny pinch of salt.
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Add oil to a small frying pan (I used 20cm / 8” pan, note 5) and heat it over medium high heat.
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Add the ginger and the shredded kanikama, stir-fry for 30 seconds.
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Pour the egg mixture into the pan. The mixture starts setting on the outside immediately.
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Using a fork or cooking chopsticks, mix the egg mixture and kanikama pieces in a swirling motion, from outside to inside (note 4).
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When the egg is half cooked (it does not take long to get to this stage) and the surface is still a bit wet, turn the heat off.
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Transfer the egg from the frying pan onto the rice and cover all of the rice with the egg. It works best if you tilt the pan and slide the egg from the pan to the rice. You may need to use a spatula to assist.
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Bring the Tenshinhan Sauce to a boil if it is not hot. Pour the sauce over the egg. If using green peas, sprinkle them over the top.
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Serve immediately.
1. The amount of rice in my recipe is slightly less than that served at restaurants.
You can adjust the amount of rice to suit to your appetite. But if you are decreasing/increasing the amount of rice significantly, adjust the ingredients by using the serving slider that appears when you hover the mouse at the serving number.
2. I used a jar of ready-to-eat blue swimmer crab meat (see the photo in the post) but you can of course buy a fresh crab and boil it, or a cooked leg of king crab from a fish shop. You can also use canned crab meat, but I find that it tends to have tiny pieces of shredded meat rather than chunks of meat.
3. Instead of using chopped shallots in the egg mixture, you can sprinkle defrosted peas over the Tenshinhan dish (see Omelette with Kanikama Crab Sticks in the recipe). Or both!
4. Kanikama is a fish cake moulded into the shape of leg meat of snow crab or Japanese spider crab and coloured to look like it. It even has a hint of crab flavour. See the sample photo in the post.
5. My 20cm / 8" frying pan was the perfect size to make an omelette large enough to cover the rice. If you have a larger frying pan, do not spread the egg mixture to cover the entire surface of the pan. Try to make a smaller circle with the egg mixture.
6. If you don't mind having well-cooked egg on the rice, you can make Crab Omelette on Rice the day before. Do not pour the sauce until you are ready to eat. Reheat the rice with the omelette and the sauce separately, then pour the sauce.
7. Nutrition per serving.
serving: 429g calories: 561kcal fat: 25g (38%) saturated fat: 4.3g (22%) trans fat: 0.1g polyunsaturated fat: 4.7g monounsaturated fat: 14g cholesterol: 403mg (134%) sodium: 984mg (41%) potassium: 415mg (12%) carbohydrates: 56g (19%) dietary fibre: 1.2g (5%) sugar: 9.7g protein: 25g vitamin a: 11% vitamin c: 3.3% calcium: 9% iron: 23%
Meal Ideas
A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.
Today’s dish covers Main and Rice in the panel below. But I thought I needed to add a bit more meat to the meal to supplement protein. So I selected Shumai served as a side.
The other side dish needs to be a salad. Harusame Salad would be perfect for it. A pickled dish like Senmai-zuke is always good to go with the sweet sauce.
- Main: Crab Omelette on Rice (Tenshinhan) – today’s recipe
- Side dish 1: Shumai (or Shao Mai, Steamed Dumpling) – make ahead and frozen, about 4 per serving
- Side dish 2: Japanese Vermicelli Salad (Harusame Salad)
- Side dish 3: Pickled Turnip (Senmai-zuke) – make ahead
- Soup: Dried Tofu Skin Soup Two Ways – either clear soup or miso soup is fine
Absolutely delicious! The sweet and sour sauce was fantastic.
Hi Emily, it’s not perfect with sweet and sour sauce, is it?
Thank you for your wonderful site! This recipe is so good, I had to comment. I made it tonight using snow crab legs and the tenshinhan sauce. My toddler loved it! I made three individual servings one after another in a wok.
Hi Christina, thanks for your comment. It sounds like your entire family had a great dinner. Well done!
I tried the Sweet Savory sauce and its so good. Thank you sharing the recipe. 🙂
Hi Dennisse, good to know that you enjoyed it!
hello, i just want to comment
t on how enjoyable your site is not only the way you have display pictures of ingredients and recipes you also tell the story or origins of the recipes. thank you and keep the recipes coming.
Hi Piroska, thanks for your lovely comment.