Senbei are a type of Japanese rice cracker. They come in various shapes, sizes, and flavors, usually savory but sometimes sweet. Senbei are often eaten with green tea as a casual snack and offered to visiting house guests as a courtesy refreshment.
Description
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 of soy sauce and mirin. They may then be wrapped with a layer of nori. Alternatively they may be flavored with salt or "salad" flavoring, among others. In China, the same characters used to writesenbei are read jiānbǐng. There are varieties like Shandong Jianbing and Tianjin Jianbing. However, these are in actuality a different food. In China, they are more like wraps and pancakes, similar to okonomiyaki, whereas in Japan they are hard, and are bite-sized snacks rather than meals. However, crackers similar to Japanesesenbei can be found in China today. Their modern Chinese name is /, which reflects the Japanese-language pronunciation of "senbei". Sweet senbei came to Japan during the Tang dynasty, with the first recorded usage in 737 AD, and still are very similar to Tang traditional styles, originally often baked in the Kansai area, of which include the traditional "roof tile" senbei. These include ingredients like potato and wheat flour or glutinous rice, and are similar to castella cakes, distinctly different from what most people would consider as senbei today, though traditional senbei such as this can still be found, e.g. Iga meibutsu katayaki, in Iga City. What Japanese commonly refer to as senbei nowadays was popularized by a shop in the Edo period, Sōkajuku, which spread salty soy sauce flavored senbei throughout Japan. There are several types of traditional Japanese senbei. They include the two categories, sweet sembei and rice candysenbei, and others, which include even fish senbei, lotussenbei and bone senbei. Modern senbei versions are very inventive and may include flavorings which can range from kimchi to wasabi to curry to chocolate. Kansaisenbei tend to use glutinous rice and are lightly seasoned and delicate in texture. Kantō senbei were originally based on uruchimai, a non-glutinous rice, and they tend to be more crunchy and richly flavored. Thin Japanese rice crackers are popular in Australia and other countries.
