Crab Omelette with Sweet & Sour Sauce (Kanitama) is a Chinese dish, but the texture and the flavour of the sauce are adapted to the Japanese palate. The fluffy omelette is made with crab meat and vegetables. This is a budget food.
Prep Time does not include the time to rehydrate dried shiitake mushrooms.
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.
- 4 eggs
- 100g/3.5oz kanikama (crab flavoured fishcake, note 1)
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms rehydrated (note 2)
- 50g/1.8oz enoki and white shimeji mushrooms (note 3)
- 30g/1.1oz green onion
- 1-2 tbsp ginger
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of pepper
- 2 tbsp cooking sake
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp oil (separated)
- 200ml/6.8fl oz chicken broth (note 4)
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- ⅓ tsp salt (note 5)
- 1/8 tsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp corn flour/cornstarch diluted in 1.5 tbsp water
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Kanikama: Shred kanikama into about 4-5cm/1 9⁄16 -2” long pieces (note 6).
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Shiitake mushrooms: Squeeze the water out of the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, remove the hard part of the stems, and cut them into 2mm thick slices.
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Enoki mushrooms: Trim off the root section of the enoki mushrooms, bunch them together, and cut them into 2-3 short stems (about 3-4cm/1⅛-1 9⁄16“ long).
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Shimeji mushrooms: Trim the clustering part of the stem at the bottom and separate stems. Halve the length if the stem is very long (like my white shimeji mushrooms).
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Green onion: diagonally cut into about 3-4cm/1⅛-1 9⁄16“ long.
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Ginger: Julianne very finely.
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Heat a frying pan (note 7) or a wok over high heat and spread 1 tablespoon of oil around.
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Put all the mushrooms and ginger to the pan/wok and stir-fry until the mushrooms are wilted.
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Add kanikama to the pan/wok and stir-fry quickly, then sprinkle sesame oil over. Transfer to a plate and let it cool slightly.
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Beat the eggs in a bowl gently (note 8), then add salt, pepper, and cooking sake to the bowl. Mix.
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Put the stir-fried vegetables with kanikama and green onions into the egg, then mix roughly.
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Heat the pan/wok with remaining oil over high heat and pour the egg mixture in.
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As soon as the outer edge of the egg mixture is getting cooked, use a spatula or chopsticks to fold the outer edge into the centre, then mix with the uncooked part of the egg mixture (note 7).
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When the egg is almost cooked through but has a small amount of uncooked egg still left, turn the heat off and transfer the omelette to a serving plate.
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Wipe the pan/wok, add all the Sweet and Sour Sauce ingredients, excluding corn flour/cornstarch, and bring it to a boil, mixing well and ensuring that the sugar and salt are dissolved.
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Add corn flour/cornstarch to the sauce in a swirling motion (note 9) while mixing the sauce with a spatula or chopsticks.
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When the sauce starts bubbling and thickens, turn the heat off and pour the sauce over the omelette.
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Serve immediately.
1. Kanitama is meant to use real crab meat, but I used imitation crab meat to cut down the cost. Please see the sample photo of kanikama in the post.
If you have cooked crab meat or tinned crab meat, you can use it instead. The dish looks better if you have some meat that has the shape of a crab leg.
2. I used medium-size dried shiitake mushrooms.
3. You can use other mushrooms such as shimeji mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.
4. You can refer to Easiest Chinese Chicken Broth to make a broth from scratch.
As an alternative, you can use a stock cube/paste diluted in water/hot water as per the instructions.
It is also OK to use chicken and pork broth if the flavour of the pork is not dominant. I used a Japanese instant broth paste called ‘weipā’ (味覇 or ウェイパー), which is made from chicken and pork bones. See the photo in the post.
5. If you are using a stock cube/paste, reduce the amount of salt to ¼ teaspoon.
6. If you are using real crab meat and the leg meat is very long, break it into smaller pieces.
7. It is ideal to use a medium size frying pan. My frying pan was 25cm/10" in diameter with a round outer bottom.
If you only have a large frying pan, try to shift the egg mixture towards the centre as the outer edge of the egg mixture starts getting cooked, and use only the centre of the frying pan.
8. Overbeating the egg makes the omelette less fluffy.
9. The volume of the sauce can vary slightly depending on the size of your pan and the strength of the heat, etc., i.e. evaporation rate varies. You may want to add ⅔ of the corn flour + water initially to test the thickness of the sauce before adding the rest of it.
10. Nutrition per serving.
serving: 372g calories: 416kcal fat: 23g (29%) saturated fat: 4.8g (24%) trans fat: 0.2g polyunsaturated fat: 4.8g monounsaturated fat: 12g cholesterol: 402mg (134%) sodium: 1.13mg (44%) carbohydrates: 25g (9%) dietary fibre: 2.6g (9%) sugar: 8g protein: 21g vitamin D: 3mcg (13%) calcium: 82mg (6%) iron: 2.8mg (16%) potassium: 576mg (12%)