Okaki

Pounded glutinous rice mochi, dried, broken into pieces, and baked or fried until crisp. It is generally distinguished from arare by being cut or broken into larger pieces, and takes a wide range of seasonings — soy sauce, seaweed, salt. Seasonings range widely — soy sauce, green laver, sesame, coarse sugar — and selling several flavors together in one bag is also said to have spread. Unevenness in how thickly the mochi is sliced carries through to differences in the baked texture, and slicing it evenly is said to be part of a maker's skill.

Pounded mochi is sliced thin and dried until brittle, then broken into pieces. These are slowly baked over charcoal or in an oven, or fried in oil, then seasoned with soy sauce or salt. How the mochi is dried is said to change the final crunch. The thickness the mochi is cut to changes the texture — thicker cuts give a heartier chew, thinner cuts a lighter bite. Whether it's fried or baked changes whether the oil's aroma comes through, said to be a fork in the road where preference splits.

One account holds that cutting the New Year's kagami mochi with a blade was considered inauspicious, so it was broken by hand or mallet instead. Breaking it without a blade — "kaku" — is said to have given rise to the name "okaki" through the speech of Muromachi-era court women, and the uneven size that comes from breaking rather than cutting is said to remain a feature today. Many shops are said to sell it as a seasonal item timed to New Year's kagami-biraki, retaining a side of it as an auspicious New Year's food.