Rice crackers are East Asian crackers made from bleached or unbleached rice flour. This article is all about the delicacy. Kindly read further.

Many regional varieties exist, though most are fried or baked and puffed and/or brushed with soy sauce or vinegar to form a smooth texture. Some may also be wrapped in seaweed.

History of Rice Crackers

Rice crackers are thought to have come out during China’s Han dynasty (c. 202 BC).

Later, during the Tang dynasty, there are records of senbei being served to houseguests as a token of courtesy.

In Japan, they were popularized during the Edo period. The Japanese Soka senbei (made in Soka City, Saitama Prefecture) is widely known to be the first modern rice cracker.

Easy Crunchy Homemade Rice Crackers

If you like Asian style snacks, you will be thrilled with homemade rice crackers.

Not just because they are easy to make, but due to their crunchiness and mild taste you can adjust however you wish. A good companion to a glass of white wine!

IIngredients

150 gr cooked rice (or as much you like/have)

A tablespoon of olive oil

Salt

Chili pepper flakes, optional

A handful of boiled algae, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Mix the cooked rice with salt and olive oil and move ithem into a blender.

Process until you have a sticky mass.

Separate the mass into two parts.

Into one, add boiled algae and into the other sprinkle some chilli flakes.

Blend again (separately).

Form small balls with your hands and begin placing them on the baking tray.

Gently press with hands or a spoon, to get a cracker form.

Bake at 180C until you notice a crust forming – should be around 20 mins.

Cooking Instructions for Rice Crackers

To prepare rice crackers, kindly do the following:

Cook the Rice

Cook the jasmine rice with 1 ½ cup water (about 50% more water than when cooking plain rice).

After the rice has been cooked, ensure it is quite soft and sticks to each other easily. If not, you can put a bit more water and cook it a bit longer.

Shape the Rice

Allow the rice cool until warm (do not refrigerate or the rice will lost its stickiness). Plop the rice onto a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper.

Cover with plastic wrap, you’ll need two sheets of plastic wrap to make sure the entire surface is covered. With a rolling pin, roll the rice out into a rectangular shape into a thin sheet.

The exact thickness is up to you but I like mine no more than two mm thick. Using a WET bench scraper (or a thin ruler) or cookie cutters, mark the needed shapes of the rice crackers.

Dry the Rice

Let the rice dry for about two to three hours to let them firm up a bit, then flip them onto a rack so they will dry faster, then let them dry completely.

You can examine whether they have dried completely by trying to bend the rice crackers—they should not bend at all. You can dry your rice by placing the tray in front of a fan or leaving it out in a strong sun (not recommended if there are critters in the neighbourhood that might want to feast on the rice!).

It would take at least one whole day to dry completely. In a hurryup, you can also bake it in a 200°F oven for several hours, but I don’t recommend this method as it is very power intensive to have the oven on for many hours. You can store the dry rice crackers in an air-tight container indefinitely.

Puff the Rice

When ready to serve, fry the rice crackers in a 400°F (200°C) oil until they puff and bloom open (this takes seconds!). Alternately, you can broil them under a very hot, pre-heated broiler, also for a few seconds, but this only works if you make very thin rice crackers like mine in the video, and watch them carefully cuz they burn quickly!