Soy-Chili Rice Crackers (柿の種, Kaki no Tane)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Steamer basket or bamboo seiro, with a heatproof plate
• •Rolling pin
• •Parchment paper
• •Small oval cutter, or a clean improvised crescent cutter
• •Rimmed baking tray

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Mix the shiratamako, joshinko, and salt in a bowl. Add the warm water little by little, rubbing the flour between your fingers until the dough comes together like soft earlobe, a Japanese kitchen test that is less poetic than it sounds and more useful than it ought to be. The dough should hold without cracking; if it crumbles, add water by the teaspoon.

   The glutinous rice flour gives chew before drying and crispness after roasting. The small amount of regular rice flour keeps the finished cracker from becoming too tough.
2. 2

   Steam until elastic

   Press the dough into a shallow puck on a lightly oiled heatproof plate. Steam over active but steady water for 18 to 20 minutes, until the dough turns slightly translucent and feels elastic when pressed. It needs this steam before shaping because raw rice flour cracks and bakes sandy; steamed dough becomes one smooth sheet.

3. 3

   Knead and roll

   Let the dough cool just until you can handle it, then knead it for 2 minutes on a board dusted lightly with joshinko. Roll it between parchment sheets to about 3mm thick. Keep it thin and even, because thick centers stay hard while thin edges burn.

4. 4

   Cut the crescents

   Cut small crescent shapes about 3cm long, using a tiny oval cutter, a bent strip of clean cardboard wrapped in foil, or a knife and patience. Set them on a parchment-lined tray with space between them. They don't need to match perfectly. The old mold didn't behave either.

5. 5

   Dry the pieces

   Leave the cut pieces uncovered at room temperature for 2 hours, or dry them in a 90C oven for 35 to 45 minutes, turning once. They should feel firm, pale, and dry on the surface, not cool or damp to the touch. This drying is the first secret: dry rice dough roasts crisp, damp rice dough sulks.

   If you have time, the room-temperature dry is gentler. If the kitchen is humid, use the low oven and give the pieces enough space so moisture can leave.
6. 6

   Roast until crisp

   Raise the oven to 180C. Bake the dried pieces for 12 to 16 minutes, turning or shaking the tray once, until they are lightly golden at the edges and crisp when cooled for a minute. Don't wait for deep color now, because the shoyu glaze will darken them later.

7. 7

   Make the glaze

   While the crackers roast, warm the shoyu, mirin, sugar, and ichimi tōgarashi in a small pan just until the sugar dissolves. Taste it. It should be salty first, faintly sweet, and warm with pepper rather than harsh. Boiling it hard drives off the mirin's softness and makes the glaze taste flat.

8. 8

   Glaze and finish

   Tip the hot crackers into a bowl, drizzle over the glaze, and toss quickly until each piece is barely coated. Spread them back onto the tray and bake at 150C for 8 to 10 minutes, until dry to the touch and glossy in patches. Cool completely before eating; the final crispness arrives as the glaze sets.

9. 9

   Serve simply

   Serve the crackers on their own, or mix with roasted peanuts for kaki-pi. Keep the portion restrained, a small mound rather than a heap. These are salty little things, meant to be picked up one by one.

Chef Tips

• •Use Japanese rice flours if you can. Shiratamako gives the cleanest texture, while mochiko works as a sensible stand-in. Ordinary wheat flour makes a different snack entirely.
• •Don't rush the drying step. If one test piece bends or feels cool inside, the batch needs more time. Crispness is built before the glaze ever touches the cracker.
• •Ichimi tōgarashi is straight ground red chili. Shichimi tōgarashi has citrus peel, sesame, and other seasonings, pleasant but not the plain Nagaoka profile.
• •If you add peanuts, use roasted unsalted ones. The crackers bring enough salt, and salted peanuts make the bowl noisy in the wrong way.

Advance Preparation

• •The cut rice pieces can be dried overnight at room temperature, loosely covered with a clean cloth. Roast and glaze them the next day.
• •Finished kaki no tane keeps 1 week in an airtight tin with a small packet of food-safe desiccant if you have one. If they soften, refresh them for 5 minutes in a 140C oven and cool completely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 43g)