Using glutinous rice flour, you can make okaki and arare. Just by adding green laver, shrimp, curry powder or Yukari, you can make fried rice crackers with various flavors.
Homemade Rice Crackers
Senbei, Okaki and Arare
When it comes to snacks made from rice, there are senbei, okaki, and arare in Japan. These three are distinguished by their ingredients.
Senbei are made from Uruchi rice flour. Okaki and arare, on the other hand, are made from glutinous rice flour. There are many explanations for why okaki and arare are different. Okaki is the larger and arare is the smaller. Or, in Kanto, they are called arare, while in Kansai, they are called okaki. But there is no clear distinction between okaki and arare.
Recommended Tools
Kneading rice flour or glutinous rice flour is a tough process. By kneading, rice flour can be quite elastic, so you need right tools.
At first, I used a heat-resistant bowl and this silicone spatula.
However, silicone spatula wes broken while I was kneading the elastic chunks. I was quite shocked because I had ordered it all the way from Japan.
Based on Motion
There are two main motions involved in kneading rice cake.
- Removing the mochi from the container
- Pressing down on the mochi to knead it
The silicon spatula was perfect for peeling the mochi from the container. However, I applied too much force when pressing and kneading the glutinous rice cake, and the hard core tip inside the spatula tore the silicone.
So I used SOCKRIG, a silicon scraper from ikea that I had at home.
It has a moderately hard core all over it, and was very useful for removing and kneading. If you search for silicone scrapers, you will find many products that look good. The best choice is one that has a core all the way through, or one that is made of only silicone.
Thin and Deep Fried
The drying process is very important in the making of rice crackers. Each company has its own ideas on how much humidity to use and how long to dry the rice crackers. Drying is the most difficult part of handmade rice crackers.
If it is not dried enough, it will not puff up, and if it is dried too quickly, it will crack. The humidity in the room varies from season to season, and changes every day. Of course, you can try different things to find the best conditions, but I recommend that you just make it thin.
It’s no fun if you fail from the very beginning. Just make it thin, cut it into appropriate pieces with a knife, and let it dry slowly. If you fry them, you can make thin rice crackers that are very close to the commercial flavor. If it is too thick, it may crack during frying or become hard and sticky because the center does not dry out easily.
We’ll get to the arrangements later, but first, try making a simple, very thin rice cracker.
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Recipe
Okaki, Arare, Fried Rice Cracker with Glutinous Rice Flour
- glutinous rice flour 100 g
- hot water 130 g
- Deep-frying oil
- A round-bottomed bowl is recommended as a heat-resistant container.
- I recommend a silicone scraper that has a core all the way around or one that is made only of silicone.
- For the rice flour, use glutinous rice flour. If you use ordinary rice flour, it becomes okaki and arare.
Deep-fried and Baked Rice Crackers with Rice FlourThis is a recipe for rice crackers that can be easily made with rice flour. You can add a variety of flavors by simply adding Aonori or small shrimp.pieceofoishi.com2021.12.15
- For sesame flavor, add 1 tablespoon sesame seeds to the dough.
- For shrimp flavor, grind 2 teaspoons of dried small shrimp into powder and add to the dough.
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Amazon.com : Mishima Yukari 26g : Grocery & Gourmet FoodAmazon.com : Mishima Yukari 26g : Grocery & Gourmet Foodamzn.to
- For curry flavor, add 1 teaspoon curry powder to the dough.
- For shiso flavor, add 1 teaspoon of Yukari to the dough. No need to season after cooking because the salt is in the yukari.
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Amazon.com: Greenlike Dried Small Shrimp Sakura Dried Shrimp 3oz/85g Ramen Shrimp 日本樱花虾米 : Grocery & Gourmet FoodAmazon.com: Greenlike Dried Small Shrimp Sakura Dried Shrimp 3oz/85g Ramen Shrimp 日本樱花虾米 : Grocery & Gourmet Foodamzn.to
- Put the rice flour in a heatproof container. If you want to add seasoning, add it here and mix well.
- Add boiling water and mix well with a silicon spatula. If the mixture does not hold together, add hot water 10 mL at a time.
- Mix well until the powdery texture disappears. Remove from the bottom of the container and press down on it to mix well. It takes a lot of force, but the more you mix, the stickier it will become.
- Heat in a microwave oven. For 100g of rice flour, heat for 15 seconds at a time. Be careful not to overheat.
- Mix well.
- Repeat this step 2-3 times.
- Place the dough on a cookie sheet.
- Wet your hands with water and pat the dough to make it thin. I recommend a thickness of 2-3 mm, which is easier to dry and less likely to break. The thinner the dough, the less likely it is to fail.
- Dry the surface. Let sit for about half a day, or heat in an oven at about 80°C for 30 minutes on each side.
- Cut the dough into desired shapes. Large pieces are easy to break. Smaller ones, about 2-3 cm in diameter, are recommended.
- Place the dough on a cookie sheet and let it dry for 5-7 days. Turn over occasionally. Make sure the dough is dry all the way through.
- Preheat the oven to 175℃.
- Place the dry dough in the oven and bake slowly for about 5-10 minutes until it puffs up.
- For salty flavor, take out and sprinkle with salt immediately.
- For soy sauce flavor, brush the dough with soy sauce and put it in the oven again to brown lightly.
- Preheat oil to 170℃.
- Put the dry dough in and deep-fry slowly for about 5-10 minutes until it puffs up.
- For salty flavor, take out and sprinkle salt immediately.
- For soy sauce flavor, dip the dough in soy sauce quickly and let it dry in the preheat.
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