Karinto: Classic Japanese Deep-Fried Dough Snack

Karinto (かりんとう) is a traditional Japanese snack food with several hundred years of history, and here, let’s take a close look at it.

Karinto (かりんとう)

Karinto

Karinto is a stick of deep-fried dough cookie made from wheat flour, yeast, and sugar, and typically coated with brown sugar syrup, then dried.

The Wagashi sweet usually has a tough crunchy texture. And due to its brown sugar coating, the confection takes on a savory sweetness.

In Japan, Karinto has been a favorite Dagashi (駄菓子) snack, long loved by both children and adults.

It is an everyday casual snack available at most supermarkets, and its price is not high.

Varieties/Flavors

Yasai Karinto or Vegetable Karinto

In modern times, Karinto comes in a large variety.

Most are inexpensive, but some produced by long-established Wagashi shops tend to be expensive.

The dough traditionally has a brown sugar coating, but recent ones offer various flavors.

Some contain flavoring ingredients such as sesame seeds, peanuts, vegetables, Matcha green tea powder, or buckwheat flour.

Recipe using Udon Noodles

It may be hard to make Karinto snacks like Japanese confectionery companies do. 

But as this recipe on Cookpad.com shows, you can make authentic Karinto using Udon noodles.

For those interested, the method is like this.

Instructions

c657b1c0299d254df76817ad7c2deaf4Image: cookpad.com

Karinto Recipe using Udon Noodles
Ingredient Quantity
Udon noodles One bag
Wheat flour As needed
Vegetable oil As needed
Sugar As needed
Water As needed
  1. First, boil the Udon noodles and separate them in the water
  2. Remove moisture from the noodles with a paper towel and coat them with a mixture of flour and sugar
  3. After heating some vegetable oil in a pan, put in the Udon strips one by one
  4. Deep-fry the noodles until golden brown, then take them out from the pan
  5. Prepare sauce: Put sugar and water in another pan and simmer the mixture until viscous
  6. Once you make the sauce, add it to the noodles and coat them well while cooking over a low heat
  7. Transfer the seasoned noodles to a large plate and let them cool down until dry
  8. Enjoy the Karinto sticks!

Tomo

Hi, I'm Tomo, a Japanese blogger living in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. For the purpose of enriching your life, I would like to introduce things about Japan on this blog, especially unique Japanese products, cooking recipes, cultures, and facts and trivia.

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