, also spelled ''sembei'', is 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 Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

as a casual snack and offered to visiting house guests as a courtesy refreshment. There are several types of traditional Japanese ''senbei''. They can be baked or deep-fried and sometimes sweetened. Aside from rice, wheat flour or starch can be used. Some varieties even use foods other than grains, such as ''sakana senbei'' (fish-senbei), ''renkon senbei'' (

lotus root ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as the pink lotus, sacred lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more of ...

senbei) and ''hone senbei'' (bone-senbei). ''Senbei'' have several variations, including ''

nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, usually made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezoensis'' and ''Pyropia tenera, P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is generally made in ...

''-wrapped, '' arare'', '' Olive no Hana'', soy nut, and wet. Thin rice crackers (薄焼きせんべい ''usuyaki senbei'') are popular in Australia and other countries. In China, the same characters used to write ''senbei'' are read jiānbǐng ( zh, t=, s=煎饼, p=jiānbǐng, labels=no); the term instead refers to a crepe and is more similar in preparation to ''

okonomiyaki is a Japanese ''teppanyaki'' savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients (mixed, or as toppings) cooked on a '' teppan'' (flat griddle). Common additions include cabbage, meat, and seafood, and toppings include ...

'' among Japanese foods. In Japan, ''senbei'' are hard and crispy, and are bite-sized snacks rather than street-food meals. However, crackers similar to Japanese ''senbei'' can be found in China today and their modern Chinese name is zh, t=, s=仙贝, p=xiānbèi, labels=no, which reflects the Japanese-language pronunciation of "senbei" (煎餅).

Preparation

''Senbei'' are made from

glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

which has been steamed for 15 to 20 minutes before being pounded into dough. After several days of refrigeration, the dough is cut into shapes. ''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 Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

and ''

mirin is a type of rice wine and a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, Japanese cooking. It is similar to sake but with a lower alcohol (drug), alcohol content and higher sugar content. The sugar content is a complex carbohydrate that forms natur ...

''. They may then be wrapped with a layer of

. Alternatively they may be flavored with salt or "salad" flavoring, among others.

History

Sweet ''senbei'' (甘味煎餅) came to Japan during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, 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

, 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 were popularized by a teahouse in

Sōka is a Cities of Japan, city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 249,645 in 118,129 households and a population density of 9100 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Sōka is situated in ...

city in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, which spread salty soy sauce flavored ''senbei'' throughout Japan. Modern ''senbei'' versions are very inventive and may include flavorings which can range from

kimchi Kimchi (; ) is a traditional Korean side dish (''banchan'') consisting of salted and fermented vegetables, most often napa cabbage or Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including '' gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), ...

wasabi Wasabi (Japanese language, Japanese: , , or , ) or Japanese horseradish (''Eutrema japonicum'' syn. ''Wasabia japonica'') is a plant of the family Brassicaceae, which also includes horseradish and Mustard plant, mustard in other genus, genera. ...

curry Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internatio ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

Kansai The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

''senbei'' tend to use glutinous rice and are lightly seasoned and delicate in texture (''saku saku''). Kantō ''senbei'' were originally based on ''uruchimai'', a non-glutinous rice, and they tend to be more crunchy (''kari kari'') and richly flavored.

Types

Senbei sometimes has ingredients baked in, including dried seafood such as shrimp or clams. * Age senbei (fried senbei) * Asari senbei ('' asari'' clam senbei) * Atsuyaki senbei (thick senbei) * Ebi senbei (shrimp senbei) * Katayaki senbei (hard baked senbei), allegedly eaten by ninjas * Kometsubu senbei (grains of rice senbei) * Musha senbei (warrior's senbei), with

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

s baked in *

Nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, usually made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezoensis'' and ''Pyropia tenera, P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is generally made in ...

senbei (seaweed senbei) * Nanbu senbei (southern senbei), made with wheat flour * Nure senbei (wet senbei) * Satou senbei (sugar senbei) * Salad senbei (salad flavored senbei) * Shika senbei (

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

senbei), meant for feeding deer in Nara Park * Tako senbei (

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

senbei) * Usuyaki senbei (thin senbei) * Zarame senbei (granulated sugar senbei) * Kaki no tane (senbei bits) * Jibachi senbei (senbei with dried wasps)

Gallery

File:Nure-senbei 001.jpg, ''Nure-senbei'', or wet senbei with

File:Katayaki by Kamata Confectionery.jpg, ''Katayaki-senbei'', or extra hard senbei allegedly eaten by ninjas File:Nanbu Senbei.jpg, ''Nanbu-senbei'', made with wheat flour File:Yukinoyado 001.jpg, ''Yuki no yado'', with sugar frosting File:しぼり焼牡蠣.jpg, ''Shiboriyaki-senbei'', with dried

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

File:Senbei iro iro.jpg, ''Senbei'' with '' aonori'' powder (middle) File:Cutting rollers used in the manufacture of Senbei, showing different designs7.jpg, Metal rollers for making senbei in various shapes File:Taishakuten Sando -03.jpg

Trivia

* Senbei has its own

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

: 🍘 (U+1F358)

References