This Japanese recipe would be great for a casual party or for appetizers. I’m not having a party, but I’m cooking for only myself while Mr. Tess is working out of town. Cooking for one, I’ve found it’s good to make a lot of food that reheats well, or a very simple recipe that makes a single serving, or snacks. I’ve been eating a lot of snacks. Snacks are often high in fat, salt, sugar, but these crackers are low in all three. And they are easy to make. It’s satisfying to cook something that people usually buy ready-made. These crackers are very crisp and have a nice sesame flavor.
Crispy Rice Crackers
Usuyake Senbei
32 crackers
page 178
- 2 1/2 ounces cake flour (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 4/5 ounces joshinko (rice flour) (no scale but a bit more than 3/4 cup?)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, stirred into 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons black sesame seeds
- additional cake flour for dusting
In a medium bowl, combine the flours and baking powder. Add the salted lukewarm water to the flour mixture, little by little, stirring, until the mixture has a dough-like consistency.
Divide the dough into tow portions. Flaatten one portion, sprinkle the white sesame seeds on top, an knead them in. Incorporate the black sesame seeds into the other half. Shape each piece of dough into a ball. Place the ballls in a plastic bag, and refrigerate them 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 400°F. On a lightly floured counter, roll each ball into a log about 2/3-inch in diameter. Cut each log into quarters, then each quarter into quarters. You want 32 disks of dough! Dredge the cut sides of the disks in flour to keep them from drying out.
Use a rolling pin to make each disk into a circle 2 1/2-inches in diameter. Arrange the thin disks on a baking sheet, and put the crackers into the hot over.
Bake the crackers until crisp and light golden, about 15 to 20 minutes, turning the crackers over once halfway through the baking. Watch them carefully! They are very thin and can burn very quickly; as you can see some of mine got a bit too brown.
Transfer the crackers to a rack to cool, then store them in a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
Serve the crackers with your favorite dip.
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Tess's Japanese Kitchen 
Wow…what a great post! I so love rice crackers, but find many of them contain added MSG, so have withheld buying them. I never thought to make them!
I must give this one a try!
Hi mellie,
Hope you like them. I just edited to add that you should watch the crackers as they bake because they are very thin and burn easily.
I have another recipe that is a little more complicated and will try it when I get back from Florida.
The crackers (and the edamame dip you posted, as well) look delicious!
How long will the crackers keep if they are stored in an airtight container?
Holly,
This was the first time I’ve made them, so I’m not sure! They are still perfectly crisp 2 days later.
Some of these recipes look awesome, can’t wait to try them.
Thanks Jimi B
http://hollywoodhyper.wordpress.com
I was wondering how long they would keep, too. Looks like they’d be great for holiday parties. It would be nice to make ahead, but if they’re as delicious as they look, there probably won’t be any leftovers! Going to have to try these with the edamame dip.
Hi Marisa,
I had them sealed in a ziploc® square plastic container, and they were still perfect 4 days later when I left for Florida. I’m betting they will be fine when I get back.
Just made these.They are perfect!
Hi Tess, I live in France ans was in Japan last year. I’m searching a receipe of a type of cracker
you can see this Professional picture here http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonobonochan/4481511572/ and my home made picture here http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/29396418903896733991651.jpg/
Do you know what is the right name or even better the receipe ? Because My husband reallly really love those cakes… Thank you for your help
Hi Sandrine,
I’m sorry but I don’t know. They certainly look delicious! But I think that it is not common for people to make crackers at home any more. I have not found recipes online for making them: they are very inexpensive to buy in such a variety of shapes, flavors, sizes, colors… I really like the Nara deer and the peanuts are appealing. Wish I knew how to make them.
Hi Tess and thank you for your reply :) I found the name it’s beans senbei ビーンズせんべい or ビーンズ煎餅 and I keep searching for the recipe ^^
Can you tell me what cake flour is? I live in the UK and we don’t have anything called that. I cannot use ordinary wheat flour because I am allergic to wheat. Have been buying rice cakes from a local shop, but they do not have them any more. All they consisted of was brown rice and salt.
Cake flour is made with softer wheat than bread flour or all-purpose flour. The Japanese cake flour is very powdery and finely ground.
Hi. I’ve been reading this recipe then I tried. I already follow what’s said on recipe but mine is failed. The cracker so hard. I didn’t use joshinko but I used rice flour from my country, Indonesia. Do you have any suggestion? Because I love japanese rice cracker and I wanna learn how to make it.
Thanks :)
Hi I’m having read your recipe and tried to make it. Unfortunately, mine is so hard and can’t be eaten. I used rice flour not joshinko. Is that need to put under the sun? Any suggestion?
I love japanese rice cracker and I wanna learn how to make it.
Thanks
Hi pam, you can buy sa ka ta (an australian bran japanese rice crackers) in various flavour now at selected waitrose stores! I am also alrergic to weat! :)
*Brand, sorry- P.s thanks so much for posting recipe, is it possible to make the crackers with actual rice instead of the flour? I couldn’t find it either, thanks
Ania :0)
Wow, tess. You are going beyond processed Japanese shelf foods. :)
But then again, maybe it isn’t too strange if we grew up whole, cooked food.
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