This is a Japanese-American rendition of arare - a rice-cracker snack seasoned with soy sauce. Mike’s recipe has been in our family for a while and it’s by far our fave of all the recipes out there. It’s everything you want in a snack: salty, sweet, and crispy. One handful and you’re hooked.
Ingredients:
1 cup or 2 sticks (225g) butter
1/4 cup (175 ml) corn syrup
2 tsp shoyu (soy sauce)
3/4 cup (175 ml) vegetable oil
1 cup (200 g) baking sugar
2 boxes of Rice Chex cereal
2 bottles (3.4 oz/100g) furikake (available at most Asian markets or online) or try delicious home-made furikake from the Raw Spice Bar which you can get here. (Note: If you use the Raw Spice bar version this snack comes out more on the spicy side so kids might like the regular version)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250 Degrees F (120 C) or 300 Degrees F if you are planning to use a larger roasting pan vs two sheet pans.
In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, combine the butter, corn syrup, shoyu, and oil until the butter is melted.
Lower the heat and whisk in the sugar until dissolved. It should be hte color of butterscotch and have a creamy texture. You should have a total of 3 cups (700 ml).
Pour one box of cereal each into two large tin-foil pans or both boxes into one large roasting pan.
Add 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) or half of the mixture over each pan of cereal, mixing well until the cereal is lightly coated. If using one large roasting pan, you can pour the entire mixture over.
Pour 1 bottle of furikake over each pan or both bottles over the larger roasting pan. Mix well.
Bake for 1 hour, mixing and turning over cereal mixture every 15 minutes.
Let cool before serving so that the cereal can get crispy and doesn’t stick together.