Ankake Chahan (Fried Rice with Crab Sauce)

A scoop of fried rice topped with a sauce infused with crabmeat and lettuce. It’s on a white plate with Chopsticks and a spoon near the plate.

Ankake Chahan (Fried Rice with Crab Sauce)

A Japanese Favorite with Chinese origins. Fried Rice is topped with a thick clear sauce loaded with Crabmeat and Green lettuce. It’s a hot and hearty meal you can whip up in minutes!

Chinese Entrees Rice

Ankake Chahan is a favorite at Chinese restaurants in Japan, although it is a uniquely Japanese dish. This is an example of a Japanese style of cooking, known as Chuka, which is a uniquely Japanese approach to Chinese Cooking adapted to Japanese palates. Chuka dishes often feature noodles or rice cooked with savory and flavorful sauces.

Ankake Chahan is closely related to the Hong Kong Dish, Hokkien, also known as Fujian Fried Rice, although with many differences. Ankake Chahan features a delicious sauce that includes crabmeat and lettuce, and emphasizes the delicious sauce more than Hokkien, which is more focused on the rice itself.

The fried rice in this dish complements the sauce perfectly, and uses soy sauce to season the rice that gives it a saltier flavor and a darker color than more traditional fried rice recipes. I load it up with eggs and roast pork to give it a taste that blends perfectly with the sauce.

Ankake (餡掛け) sauce is a starchy sauce made with kudzu (braken starch), potato starch, or cornstarch dissolved in stock. Ankake is used in many dishes around Japan such as Kanitama (Crab Omelette), Gomoku Ankake Yakisoba (Yakisoba topped with beef and vegetables in starchy sauce), and even Ankake spaghetti, a popular dish in Nagoya. The Ankake sauce I use for this recipe is thick and hearty, infused with finger and sesame oil and loaded with crab, and it goes perfectly as an omelette topper. There are also lettuce leaves in the sauce which add a lovely color to the dish. The sauce uses chicken stock and is thickened with potato starch to create this tasty topper.

Ankake Chahan is loaded with delicious flavor and has a rich and hearty texture. I recommend using a spoon to eat it and passing on the chopsticks- you are going to want to enjoy every drop of sauce!

Ankake Chahan (Fried Rice with Crab Sauce)

Savory fried rice seasoned with soy sauce and loaded with roast pork and eggs can be quickly prepared in a hot wok. The rice is shaped in a bowl and sits for a few minutes while you prepare the sauce. The entire dish should only take about 10 minutes to cook, but be sure you prep the ingredients for both the rice and the sauce before you start cooking!

This dish is a meal by itself – but of course you can serve it with appetizers or a nice Chinese style soup if desired.

PREP	COOKING	YIELD
15 mins	10 mins	Serves 2

PREP	15 mins
COOKING	10 mins
YIELD	Serves 2

Ingredients:

Fried Rice

1/2 onion, chopped finely
1/4 lb roast pork, finely chopped
1 TBSP Sesame Oil
2 eggs
2 cups cooked white rice
2 TBSP Soy Sauce

Ingredient board for fried rice

Ankake Crab Sauce

1 1/4 cups chicken stock
1 cup of crab meat (substitute with krab if desired)
1 TBSP Katakuriko dissolved in 1/3 cup warm water
1/2 TBSP Sesame Oil
1 TBSP fresh ginger, julienned
6-8 fresh lettuce leaves

Ingredient board file Ankake Sauce

Instructions:

Prepare the Fried Rice

Beat the eggs together.

Beating two eggs with a fork in a metal bowl

In a wok or a frypan, sauté the onions in the sesame oil over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes until the onions turn translucent and begin to soften.
Stir in the roast pork and sauté for another minute until the pork is hot and the ingredients are well combined.

Sautéed onion and pork

Stir in the eggs and scramble until soft.

Scramble eggs

Stir in the white rice while breaking up the egg with a wooden spoon. Cook for about 5 minutes until the rice is hot and all the ingredients are well combined.
Stir in the soy sauce and fry the rice for another two to three minutes until the rice is all the same color.

Fried rice in a bowl

Pack the rice into a large brown. Turn the bowl upside down on a plate and allow to sit until the Ankake sauce is finished, This will keep the rice warm as well.

Prepare the Ankake Sauce

Heat the chicken stock, sesame oil, crabmeat and ginger over medium high heat. Stir gently and bring to a boil.

Ankake sauce mixture

Add the lettuce leaves and stir until softened.
Reduce heat to medium and gradually stir in the katakuriko mixture. Cook for another 30 seconds until the sauce stiffens. Remove from heat.

Ankake Sauce thickened

Plate

Slowly lift the inverted bowl off the plate leaving a mound of fried rice on the center of the plate.

Fried rice mound

Pour the sauce over the Fried Rice.
Serve.

Ankake Chahan

Notes:

For an “eggier” Ankake sauce, scramble a raw egg and stir it in slowly just before adding in the katakuriko.
This recipe makes enough for two plates. You can scale the recipe for more or less.
The katakuriko and water will separate while sitting. Be sure to stir again to dissolve the starch before adding into the sauce. If the sauce is not as thick as you desire, you can add additional katakuriko (dissolved in water).

Jay H

Jay is a Project Manager for a U.S. Company that does business globally. He has worked and lived in many places and has spent time learning how to cook dishes from around the world. Currently based in Japan, he created the Mountain Plums website during the Covid pandemic as a way to express himself though cooking while staying active.

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Jay H