In Japan their rice snacks are called せんべい and I was an instant addict. Most people go to Asian stores in the U.S. to find ingredients to actually cook stuff. Me, I always look for the best selections of authentic senbei. Made of rice and soy, it tastes like it should be healthy.
Oh, how I wish it was!
Here, in Korea, we eat 빵 티기 or bbang tigi (I hope those characters are right!).
The far left, yellow stuff feels a lot like a big, crunchy Cheetos cheese snack in your mouth, but tastes more like a very slightly sweetened puffed corn. I really like it for its crunchy/chewy texture and mild flavor. The brown ones look like those softer cheese puffs, and feel like that in your mouth too. Here are some more colors of this type I found on line:
They're sweetened with a sugary coating and I've tried these coated in chocolate too--yummy! The 2 white colored bags I haven't tried, because I'm pretty sure they'll be tasteless, like these:
To my taste buds, they're nothing more than starch. Thankfully, a lot of my students liked them so the purchase was far from a waste! No doubt, you noticed the giant bags of super-sized Trix cereal-looking variety in the display. Close up they look more like this photo below, but many are perfectly round, like Trix, only 5-10 times bigger:
Naturally, I'm a kid at heart, so I HAD to try these. Nothing like Trix cereal, of-course, they have some grainy "so-so" flavor, to quote a favorite American expression used by my Korean students. My youngest kids adore them because they're so fun to look at, I think! Since so many of these kids' parents work FT and they only shop at regular grocery stores, many of them have never tried this. It took an American English teacher to introduce them to a very old-styled, traditional Korean snack!
Pictured above is the machine that makes the stuff right in front of your eyes. These big, flat white ones are the size of small plates. I want to try them out in place of a hard tortilla or something. If you find one of the street vendors with a truck full of a gazillion varieties, you'll pay extra, but you can watch him making all different kinds and bagging them up; so I imagine they're fresher. Haven't tried any yet, but I'm sure I will--just too cool not to!
Check out the SIZE of the bag leaning up against the truck! It's like buying edible packaging popcorn, so no wonder...Ok, this last image is my own photo of 2 of the best, yet still cheap varieties. (I'll probably write again and display the pricier kind--I just disappeared a whole bag of rice-crispy treats styled bbang-tigi--deadly delicious, with a caramelized sugary glue & nuts instead of marshmallows.
Second to last share for today are these. The one on the left is full of my students' favorites--they're rolled in a brown sugar--a big hit every time I bring them to school. These others, on the right, have a very mild flavor which I can't really describe. I love that they're hollow & intend to bring enough string to let the students make edible bbang tigi bracelets sometime. Stay tuned for more on this delightful and uniquely Korean snack in the future, and...Oh! They're not always made of rice. I just finished off a Sunday walk w/a new Korean friend. She brought these. They're made of wheat, but still called bbang tigi. They taste just like puffed wheat cereal melded together...I wonder which came first?
What a fun twist on an old familiar American-to-me flavor! Happy snacking to you from Sacheon~~
Looks like fun. I wonder if you can make some of these into a kind of "Rice Crispy" treat?
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ReplyDeleteDuring each two-hour Sunday leg (consisting of walking, bus, and train rides to and then from Yokohama based LDS church, back to my assigned Marine Corps base, Camp Fuji) I had similar mouth "gushing" experiences. At each of the train stations the Japanese vendors positioned their mobile stoves, on carts, with meals ready to eat just outside a passenger's window. The aroma filled the air. Despite my hunger, and salivating glands, I resisted because I feared the train would take off without me. I was relegated to having to be satisfied with open air delicious American chow, in a very primitive base, in the summer of 1976. But I often wished I'd carried enough yen to call out to the vendor with the international language of the Shout, a 'Come Here' wave, and the universal Pointing Finger selecting which of his savory samples could have been mine. Enjoy your Rich Life! Love ya, sis of mine. Tom (formerly "1234")
ReplyDeleteIt's me JAck. I think I can correct some. We(Koreans) spell it 뻥튀기bbeong tui gi. The name came from its sound when it's being made. Bbeong!(like Boom~) And 튀기 means something popped.
ReplyDeleteHow I, too, wish senbei (and other fun things) were good for us! Yoroshiku, dear Joanna . . .
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're having a fun time! The big plate sized ones are made here at Weis - they have one of those machines and periodically throughout the day, they make fresh ones. :) I haven't tried them, but maybe now I will. I've always imagined they just taste like styrofoam, though.
ReplyDeleteThat is delightful to know, Judi!! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHA! Thank you, Jack!
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