rengginang — West Java, Indonesia

Rengginang is an Indonesian rice cracker made from cooked glutinous rice that is pressed into flat, rounded discs and left to dry in the sun before frying. Unlike crackers made from a fine rice paste, rengginang keeps the whole shape of its rice grains, which stay visibly stuck together in the finished disc, giving it a coarser, chewier bite than smoother crackers of the same family. The cracker is reported from West Java, where it is often made from leftover cooked rice that would otherwise go to waste, pressed by hand into shape while still warm and sticky. Versions of the same idea travel under other names elsewhere, appearing as ranginang or intip in other regions of Indonesia and as brong-brong among Indonesian communities in Suriname. To prepare it, glutinous rice is cooked until sticky, seasoned, then pressed firmly into flattened rounds and left to dry fully in the sun over one or more days until hard and translucent. The dried discs are deep-fried in plenty of hot oil until they puff up and turn golden and crisp. Seasoning is added either before drying, mixed into the rice, or judged by what is added to the frying oil, ranging from a plain salted version to a sweet one glazed with liquefied palm sugar, or savoury ones enriched with dried prawn, shrimp paste or razor clam. This West Java version favours the plain salted style as an everyday snack, made in batches from whatever rice is left over, while the choice between sweet, salty or savoury seasoning is left to the household preparing it rather than fixed by any single recipe.