One of the traditional snack foods you will find in Japan is called senbei. This is basically a rice cracker that is traditionally made using rice flour that comes from non-sticky grains. This crispy cracker comes in many shapes, sizes, and variations, with a few actually being made using wheat flour instead of rice flour.
Senbei can be either fried or baked rice cracker snacks. Each type can be easily distinguished by the flavors that these come in. Fried senbei are usually made using a combination of rice flour, sugar, and some soy. This gives these crackers their telltale salty sweet flavor. Baked senbei, on the other hand, comes in many different flavors. These can include spicy, sweet, and salty variants. Some of the more popular flavors for baked senbei include sugar coated, soy flavored, and plain salty ones.
Senbei is usually offered as a snack with tea but some people enjoy this crunchy treat any time of the day. There are a lot of different kinds of senbei for you to choose from and these include variants that have nori on them, are chocolate coated, and even have wasabi powder sprinkled on them.
These can also come in a variety of colors to help you distinguish one flavor from another. For example, a matcha flavored senbei can be colored green while a chili flavored one can be in red or pink. Some parts of Japan have flavors that you can only find in their region, like Osaka's okonomiyaki flavored senbei. Hokkaido has its sweet-corn flavored version and Fukuoka has its Pollock roe (mentaiko) flavored senbei.
These are usually sold in large packs that hold smaller individual packs which help preserve the crispness of the snack. While the traditional shape is round, a lot of the newer options you have for senbei come in a variety of shapes that include hearts, twists, squares, and rectangles.
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