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 Standard senbei and a cross-section view | |
| Alternative names | Sembei |
|---|---|
| Type | Rice cracker |
| Place of origin | Japan |
| Region or state | East Asia |
| Main ingredients | Japanese rice (uruchimai) |
| Other information | Unicodeemoji 🍘 |
| Senbei | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 煎餅 | ||||
| Hiragana | せんべい | ||||
| |||||
Senbei (煎餅), also spelledsembei, is a type of Japaneserice cracker.[1] They come in various shapes, sizes, and flavors, usually savory but sometimes sweet. Senbei are often eaten withgreen tea as a casual snack and offered to visiting house guests as a courtesy refreshment.
There are several types of traditional Japanesesenbei. They can be baked or deep-fried and sometimes sweetened. Aside from rice, wheat flour or starch can be used. Some varieties even use foods other than grains, such assakana senbei (fish-senbei),renkon senbei (lotus root senbei) andhone senbei (bone-senbei).
Senbei have several variations, includingnori-wrapped,arare,Olive no Hana,soy nut, and wet. Thin rice crackers (薄焼きせんべいusuyaki senbei) are popular in Australia and other countries.[2]
In China, the samecharacters used to writesenbei are readjiānbǐng (煎饼;煎餅;jiānbǐng); the term instead refers to acrepe and is more similar in preparation tookonomiyaki among Japanese foods. In Japan,senbei are hard and crispy, and are bite-sized snacks rather than street-food meals. However, crackers similar to Japanesesenbei can be found in China today and their modern Chinese name is仙贝;仙貝;xiānbèi, which reflects the Japanese-language pronunciation of "senbei" (煎餅).
Senbei are made fromglutinous rice which has been steamed for 15 to 20 minutes before being pounded into dough. After several days of refrigeration, the dough is cut into shapes.[3]
Senbei are usually cooked by being baked or grilled, traditionally over charcoal. While being prepared they may be brushed with a flavoring sauce, often one made ofsoy sauce andmirin. They may then be wrapped with a layer ofnori. Alternatively they may be flavored with salt or "salad" flavoring, among others.
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Sweetsenbei (甘味煎餅) came to Japan during theTang dynasty, with the first recorded usage in 737 AD, and still are very similar to Tang traditional styles, originally often baked in theKansai area, of which include the traditional "roof tile"senbei. These include ingredients like potato and wheat flour orglutinous rice, and are similar tocastella cakes, distinctly different from what most people would consider assenbei today, though traditionalsenbei such as this can still be found, e.g.Iga meibutsu katayaki, inIga City.
What Japanese commonly refer to assenbei nowadays were popularized by a teahouse inSōka city in theEdo period, which spread salty soy sauce flavoredsenbei throughout Japan.
Modernsenbei versions are very inventive and may include flavorings which can range fromkimchi towasabi tocurry tochocolate.
Kansaisenbei tend to use glutinous rice and are lightly seasoned and delicate in texture (saku saku).Kantōsenbei were originally based onuruchimai, a non-glutinous rice, and they tend to be more crunchy (kari kari) and richly flavored.
Senbei sometimes has ingredients baked in, including dried seafood such as shrimp or clams.
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