Glutinous Rice Dishes - Mochi, Mooncake, Rice Pudding, Tteok, Zongzi, Tangyuan, Nian Gao, Ketupat, Daifuku, Lo Mai Gai, Arare, CI Fan Tuan (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Mochi, Mooncake, Rice Pudding, Tteok, Zongzi, Tangyuan, Nian Gao, Ketupat, Daifuku, Lo Mai Gai, Arare, Ci Fan Tuan, Songpyeon, Sekihan, Khao Tom. Excerpt: Arare for sale in bins Peanut arare with wasabi peas and dried fish Arare ( "hailstones") is a type of bite-sized Japanese cracker made from glutinous rice and flavored with soy sauce . The size and shapes are what distinguish arare from senbei . Types There are many different sizes, colors, and shapes of arare . Some are sweet, and others savory. One, called norimaki arare (nori meaning an edible seaweed foodstuff in the form of a dried sheet; maki meaning roll shape) is wrapped with dried nori seaweed. Another, kakinotane ( ? ), takes its name from its resemblance to a persimmon seed. ( Kaki is Japanese for "persimmon.") Kakinotane are often sold with peanuts, a combination called kakip ( ? ). These are a popular snack to accompany Japanese beer . Culture Japanese typically consume arare to celebrate the Doll Festival ( Hinamatsuri ), on March 3, Girls' Day in Japan. The arare made during the festival are very colorful - pink, yellow, white, brown, light green, and so on. Regular arare can be bought throughout the year, but the colorful ones are only available around January to March in anticipation of the Doll Festival. Arare was brought to the U.S. by Japanese immigrants who came as plantation workers in the early 1900s. In Hawaii, the snack is often called kakimochi (fried rice paste) or mochi crunch . In Hawaii, it's popular to mix arare with popcorn (some people mix in furikake, too). The popular Hurricane popcorn includes both arare and furikake with the popcorn. Also popular in Hawaii is li hing arare. See also (online edition) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Ci fan tuan item Ci faan item Traditional Ch...