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sembei


torakris

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So do I. I love all kinds except sugar- and zarame-coated ones, which I hate.

Does anyone know how sembei differs from arare and okaki? Sembei is made from regular rice while arare and okaki are made of glutinuos rice.

I have found only today that Kanto and Kansai differ in rice confection consumption:

In Kanto, sembei account for 70% of rice confection consumption and arare 30%.

In Kansai, arare account for 80% and sembei 20%.

What a difference!

Although I like all kinds, I like ware sen (cracked and defective sembei) the best. This bag of 300 g ware sen costs 148 yen.

gallery_16375_5_1098844819.jpg

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So do I.  I love all kinds except sugar- and zarame-coated ones, which I hate. 

I eat almost any except for the sugar coated ones as well! :biggrin:

My kids don't really like sembei so I rarely have them in the house.... :sad:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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there is one that i particularly like because it is so addictingly salty... "soft salad". (ソフトサラダ). i ran a <a href ="http://storage.kanshin.com/free/img_1/13588/474447193.jpg">google search</a> on it. i didnt come up with many hits actually.

its probably not that popular in japan; at least not with hundreds of others competing with it. just off the top of my head, id guess that the local supermarket here sells, oh, maybe 7-10 types of sembei. im just guessing. but not too many i should think. theyre either sweet or salty (or both -- soy saucey). and no exotic fun flavours like garlic, plum or cod roe.

wonder if americanising it would make it more popular with the locals here. maybe chocolate sembei? or peanut butter sembei?

"Bibimbap shappdy wappdy wap." - Jinmyo
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A rice cracker store? I'd be in heaven as would my husband and 3-year-old son, both of whom I've managed to turn into senbei junkies. Having been raised on fairly standard North American snack food, my husband had never tasted Asian snacks until he met me... and now he's making up for lost time! The name of our current favourite escapes me just now, and I can't run to the cupboard and check since we made short work of the two bags I bought recently. Time for another rice cracker run!

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

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Wow.... i never had the freshly made ones before :blink: Do they taste like warm biscuits fresh out of the oven?? :wub:

My favorites are the ones with minimal additives with visually distinguishable roasted rice grains... can't remember the brand, but they come in a large packet with each one individually packeted. On the contrary, i also like those with the cheese and almond stuck on the rice crackers! :raz:

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Noriten, definitely are my favorites. Followed by the black sesame ones.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

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Noriten, definitely are my favorites. Followed by the black sesame ones.

the black sesame ones are my current favorites!

melonpan, those soft salad ones are all over here, I always thought tey were a kid's sembei.... :blink:

The reason I thought still think) this is that whenever I go to a friend's house the soft salad sembei go into the kid's oyatsu (snack) bowl and the mother's snack on somethingelse.....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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I love sembei! I fell in love with them when I was in high school. My friends and I would often hang out in the Tea House in the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, drinking gallons of green tea and snacking on sembei.

I go to the Japanese grocers in Japantown about twice a month and always stock up on my favorites. I don't know what any of them are called, though! I like every kind I've ever had except the sweet ones. One type I particularly like has a shiny, varnish-like exterior and is wrapped in the middle with a piece of seaweed, like an obi.

Cheers,

Squeat

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  • 2 weeks later...

I learned only two days ago that nori maki sembei/arare are also called shinagawa maki sembei/area (or simply shinagawa maki). Shinagawa is the name of a place in Tokyo where larva was once cultivated.

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Do any of you know of Pea Sen (sp?) of Edo Ichi? Obviously, Pea Sen is short for Peanut Sembei. Edo Ichi seems to have gone bankrupt years ago, so you can't taste the authentic Pea Sen of Edo Ichi any longer. But there are a lot of Pea Sen-like sembei available, like this:

http://www.aoisenbei.com/items.cgi?act=items&no=123

A single Pea Sen is very small, measuring about 1 x 3 cm, if I remember right.

My father, who usually doesn't eat any sweets, once said that he liked Pea Sen.

Edited by Hiroyuki (log)
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i feel like a little kid when i get a bag and eat them, but theyre pretty good. why should kids get to have all the fun? <i>hoshi tabeyo!</i> (lets eat stars!)

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/041116hoshi.jpg"> <img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/041116hoshi2.jpg"></center>

"Bibimbap shappdy wappdy wap." - Jinmyo
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i feel like a little kid when i get a bag and eat them, but theyre pretty good.  why should kids get to have all the fun?  <i>hoshi tabeyo!</i> (lets eat stars!)

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/041116hoshi.jpg">  <img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/041116hoshi2.jpg"></center>

Then I'm sure you'll like the ware sen I posted previously. (See Post #3). The bag actually contains broken hoshi tabeyo sembei.

***

And the bag also contains broken akachan (baby) sembei (white ones).

Edited by Hiroyuki (log)
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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm in Tokyo for a couple of days now. Anyone have recommendations on where to buy sembei?

I'm staying near Ginza. I've purchased from Akebono before. I usually get the flat circular shrimp flavored ones in the basement of Mitsukoshi. Last time, I also enjoyed the uni sembei. Wondering if there is another place I'm missing near here...particularly if the price/quality ratio were attractive.

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I'm in Tokyo for a couple of days now.  Anyone have recommendations on where to buy sembei?

I'm staying near Ginza.  I've purchased from Akebono before.  I usually get the flat circular shrimp flavored ones in the basement of Mitsukoshi.  Last time, I also enjoyed the uni sembei.  Wondering if there is another place I'm missing near here...particularly if the price/quality ratio were attractive.

If you want some of the best prices (department stores can be pricey) get to Ameyokocho at Ueno station、just 11 minutes away from Ginza on the Ginza line, Iw as just there on Sunday.... :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Seeing this thread pop up again made me remember a silly question I have....

The senbei that is made to feed the deer (in Nara, Miyajima, etc). Can I feed it to my dog? I was thinking about next time I go to Japan i can bring my dog back an omiyage. :biggrin:

Edited by Kiem Hwa (log)
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Seeing this thread pop up again made me remember a silly question I have....

The senbei that is made to feed the deer (in Nara, Miyajima, etc).  Can I feed it to my dog?  I was thinking about next time I go to Japan i can bring my dog back an omiyage. :biggrin:

only sembei for your dog?

no osechi ryouri?

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=29751

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Does anyone know how sembei differs from arare and okaki?  Sembei is made from regular rice while arare and okaki are made of glutinuos rice.

I didn't know that! I thought it was the size/shape of the cracker that made the difference (senbei usally large and disc-shaped, arare bite-sized in various shapes).

My favorite senbei is the "soft salad" type. Favorite arare is kaki no tane.

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