These Deep-fried Rice Crackers are made from mochi (rice cakes). That’s why they are not called ‘osenbei’ but called ‘okaki’. By simply deep-frying mochi and sprinkling salt over them, you can make delicious Japanese snacks. You can buy similar crackers at Japanese/Asian grocery stores, but nothing beats home-made Age Okaki. They are so addictive.
Cook Time assumes that the rice cake pieces are deep-fried in two batches. Drying Time can vary depending on the size of the rice cake pieces and the humidity in the atmosphere.
- 3 rectangle rice cakes (50g / 1.8oz each, note 1)
- Oil for deep-frying
- 2-3 pinches of salt (note 2)
- 1 tsp aonori (note 3)
-
Slice each rice cake into about 5mm thick pieces (note 4).
-
Put the rice cake slices on a rack, without overlapping.
-
Place the rack on a table/bench to dry for about 3⅜ days (note 5). They should show fractures. They sometimes even crack a bit.
-
Heat oil to 160°C / 320°F. The depth of the oil should be about 2cm.
-
Add the rice cake pieces to the oil (note 6) and fry for about 10 minutes until the rice cake explodes in the centre (sometimes a couple of times) and the surface becomes light golden brown. The fried rice cake should be almost double in size. occasionally turn the rice cracker pieces while frying.
-
Transfer to the tray lined with kitchen paper to drain excess oil.
-
Sprinkle salt (and aonori if using) over while hot.
-
Serve when cooled down.
1. You can buy a pack of rice cakes at Japanese/Asian grocery stores. Each rice cake is about 50g. See the sample pack of rice cakes in the post.
2. I am usually light on salt, so you may want to adjust the amount of salt to sprinkle over the okaki.
3. This is optional. Instead of aonori, you can add black pepper. Instead of using salt, you can coat the crackers with soy sauce. Please see the post for suggested other flavourings.
4. I sliced a rice cake crosswise so that each slice is not too long.
Instead of slicing a rice cake, you can dice it into 1cm / ⅜” cubes if you like. You can see in the post what they will look like when deep-fried. I dried the diced rice cake pieces only for 2 days.
5. Time to completely dry rice cakes varies depending on the size of your rice cake pieces and the humidity in the atmosphere.
Alternatively, you can dry them in the sun for a couple of days. Make sure that the rice cake pieces are completely dried.
It is OK to keep drying for many days. Dried rice crackers can keep for a long time, so you can make a large quantity for future use.
6. Do not fry too many pieces at once because they double in size when cooked.
7. Nutrition per serving.
serving: 55g calories: 238kcal fat: 6.4g (10%) saturated fat: 0.6g (3%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 1.3g monounsaturated fat: 4.1g cholesterol: 0mg (0%) sodium: 303mg (13%) potassium: 145mg (4%) carbohydrates: 41g (14%) dietary fibre: 2.1g (8%) sugar: 0.5g protein: 4.1g vitamin a: 0% vitamin c: 0% calcium: 0.4% iron: 4.1%