Savoring Asia’s Rice Snacks: Discover Japan’s Unique Varieties

Jan 27, 2025by Bokksu Staff

Nearly every kid in Asia grew up eating rice snacks. It’s inevitable. Whether you like the savory crunchiness of rice crackers or the sweet stretchiness of rice cakes, there’s always an ideal Asian snack for you. In this post, we’ll explore the diverse range of Japanese delights like senbei, mochi, and dango. We’ll also discuss rice snacks with deep-rooted cultural significance in other Asian countries, such as Korea’s tteok and China’s rice crackers.

Bowl with mixture of Japanese rice crackers, senbei

Unpacking the Popularity of Senbei in Japan

Senbei is the ultimate traditional Japanese rice cracker and has been so for centuries. It comes in various shapes and flavors but most varieties are savory. Nevertheless, some senbei rice crackers are made to taste sweet. Senbei is a crispy snack typically made by mixing glutinous rice flour with water to form a dough, reshaping the dough into rectangles or round mounds, and baking or grilling it. Traditionally, the baking or grilling takes place over charcoal. Senbei is usually flavored with soy sauce and mirin and wrapped in a sheet of nori seaweed. This rice snack has been in Japan since the 8th century, when Chinese immigrants brought the recipe to the country. In Japan, senbei is eaten as a snack during tea ceremonies, social celebrations, and traditional festivals. Often enjoyed with green tea, it can also be offered as a gift or souvenir. There are different varieties of senbei. The following are popular types:

Nori senbei: Dry seaweed flakes are added to the dough, adding the savory taste of the ocean.

Kuromame senbei: The dough is a mixture of rice flour and black soybeans.

Ebi senbei: It’s a deep-fried version that contains powdered shrimp.

Age senbei: This is a fried version seasoned with soy sauce.

Other Japanese Rice Crackers (Arare and Okaki)

There are other types of Japanese rice crackers closely related to senbei. Okaki is not technically a type of senbei, although it contains glutinous rice. The rice is steamed, mashed, and shaped into small rectangles before getting toasted or grilled. Another close relative of the senbei rice cracker is arare. This bite-sized snack is made from fried glutinous rice flour mixed with nuts and flavored with soy sauce. It’s a popular snack during Hinamatsuri, also known as Girl’s Day in Japan.

Daifuku Mochi: Japan's Sweet Rice Delight

Mochi has to be the most popular type of rice cake in all of Asia. Made by pounding steamed glutinous rice into a paste before shaping it, mochi is a staple in Japan. It has a diverse range of varieties. Daifuku or daifuku mochi (big belly rice cake), is a round mochi filled with a type of sweetened red bean paste known as anko. It is the most popular type of mochi. Daifuku is more than a sweet snack in Japan. It symbolizes good luck, prosperity, and love. Hence, you can find it at New Year celebrations, religious ceremonies, and family gatherings. Besides anko, various other fillings may be added to this versatile and popular treat, including the following:

Matcha (green tea powder)
Strawberry
Roasted soybean flour
White bean paste (shiroan)
Plum (AKA ume daifuku)
Salt (AKA shio daifuku)

Kubota Daifuku Mochi: Chestnut

Daifuku are Japanese snacks where a delicious paste is encased in mochi made from glutenous (not to be confused with glutinous) rice flour. These sweet treats are flavored with chestnuts and are the perfect light dessert.

Common Allergens: Milk, Tree Nuts, Soy.

7.05 oz

The Versatility of Japanese Rice Cakes

In this section, we’ll explore the different types of traditional rice cakes in Japan and their use in everyday meals and special ceremonies.

Mochi

Mochi is the most common and well-known Japanese rice cake in the world. Many people outside of Japan consider “mochi” to be an umbrella term for all kinds of rice cakes in Japan. Made with mochigome (steamed and pounded glutinous rice), sugar, and cornstarch (or potato starch), mochi has a wide range of varieties. Besides the traditional method, plain mochi is easy to make at home using a rice cooker, parchment paper, and steamer basket. The dough can be mixed, filled, coated, or wrapped with all kinds of ingredients to create variations such as daifuku (filled with anko), sakura mochi (wrapped with pickled cherry blossom), and kusa mochi (mixed with mugwort paste). Mochi has seasonal variations for different kinds of events, including New Year (daifuku), Spring (sakura mochi), and Children’s Day (kashiwa mochi).

Dango

Dango is quite similar to mochi, but it’s made with mochiko (a type of glutinous rice flour) instead of mochigome (pounded cooked rice). This round Japanese dumpling is often skewered on a stick and sold as street food. You can eat dango with any kind of sweetener, including sugar, anko, and syrup. Like mochi, dango also has different varieties, many of which are ideal for specific seasons. Hanami dango is especially popular in spring. People eat it when they go cherry blossom viewing at the park.

Manju

Manju is a Japanese confection made from rice powder, flour, buckwheat, and anko filling. Other common manju fillings are sweet potato, milk, sugar, and butter. The most common variation of the snack sold at Japanese confectionery shops is coated with matcha.

Exploring Korean Rice Snacks: The Tradition of Tteok

Of course, Japan is not Asia’s only region with a budding rice cake culture. Korea’s tteok is eaten by millions around the world. Tteok refers to all manner of traditional Korean rice cakes. Some are made with steamed glutinous rice flour, while others use the non-glutinous version. Either way, the flour is pounded, pan-fried, or shaped to make a wide variety of sweet and savory tteok. The following are the various types of tteok:

Steamed tteok (sirutteok): Fine rice flour is mixed with sweet red beans, wheat, sesame seeds, or nuts and steamed. It’s often used in religious rituals.

Pounded tteok (jeolpyeon): This is a stretchy and silky treat of pounded steamed rice. Injeolmi and danja are two of the most common variants. They’re used to make street food such as tteokbokki, tteokguk, and spicy rice cake.

Pan-fried tteok (hwajeon): It’s made by mixing glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water before pan-frying the resulting batter. It may be decorated with chrysanthemum, rose, or other colorful flowers.
Shaped tteok (gyeongdan): Small balls of glutinous rice flour are boiled and covered with honey, cinnamon powder, or nuts. It’s common at weddings and birthday celebrations.

China’s Rice Snack Legacy: Mi Jian and Beyond

We can consider China to be the origin of Asian rice crackers. These snacks were first created in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) and spread to other parts of East Asia in the Tang dynasty (618–907). The original version was made by baking wheat flour in vegetable oil. This recipe was later adapted into other versions, including senbei.

Innovative Flavors and Modern Twists

Traditional rice snacks are being adapted for modern palates. Some brands infuse rice crackers and cakes with innovative flavors like curry, matcha, wasabi, seaweed, chili, and lime. Rice snacks also come in modern forms, such as mochi ice cream, mochi candy, coffee daifuku, and chocolate mochi.

Health Benefits of Rice-Based Snacks

The following are some of the nutritional benefits of consuming rice-based snacks:

They serve as a low-calorie and low-fat alternative for other kinds of snacks.
Traditional rice snacks use wholesome, gluten-free ingredients.
They pair well with other healthy foods, such as proteins and fruits.
They're good sources of manganese, which is vital for metabolism and tissue formation.

Artisanal Techniques in Rice Snack Production

Although the production of rice snacks in the Japanese market has been heavily industrialized, some shops still grill and bake these snacks by hand. Hand-baked rice snacks rely heavily on individual craftsmanship to create premium rice snacks. The first step is to use premium-grade rice, often from the local farms. Only skilled artisans are allowed to bake, grill, or fry the dough, as they know how to get the ideal texture and color of the snacks. They also know the best seasonings to add to the products, after which they loosely cover them with plastic wrap or place them in an airtight container.

Seasonal Rice Snacks and Their Cultural Importance

Japan’s snack dealers rely heavily on seasonal changes when producing and marketing rice snacks, due to the consumer habits in the country. In spring, most treats are infused with pickled cherry leaves. Hanami dango and sakura mochi are perfect examples. The winter months see a lot of strawberry-infused snacks, such as ichigo daifuku. During the fall, sweet potato manju and daifuku line the shelves of convenient stores and supermarkets. And come summer, people prefer to cool off with fruit-flavored treats made with citrus, peach, and the like.

Where to Find: Japanese Rice Snacks Connecting Global Tastes

Bokksu Market is the ideal place to get all kinds of authentic rice snacks from Japan. We are dedicated to bringing the taste of Japanese tradition to a global audience through delicious treats. Our collection includes brands like Amanoya Rice Crackers, J-Basket Arare, Kubota Daifuku Mochi, and Seiki One-Bite Mochi.

Pairing Rice Snacks: From Tea to Sake

Enhance the culinary experience by pairing rice-based snacks with the ideal food and beverages. You may eat it as a side dish with tuna, avocado toast, cottage cheese, and turkey sandwich. You can’t go wrong with green tea. However, cold beer and sake (traditional Japanese rice wine) are good options too.

Why Rice Snacks Continue to Captivate

Rice-base crackers and cakes are the most popular Japanese snacks and have been so for many years. Their popularity is expanding worldwide, thanks to social media, modern travel, and platforms like Bokksu Market. Feel free to explore these delights through our online store and have them delivered to your doorstep.

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