The very first time I tried Guoba was with my grandfather. We went to a Chinese restaurant in Taipei for Sunday lunch. Sunday lunch eating out is very much a family tradition where my grandfather would order all kinds of different dishes I hadn’t tried before. This time he ordered Guoba and I believe he ordered it to try to impress me.

Back then I was really young so my grandfather would try to impress his princess granddaughter and say things like the magic dish will “talk”. Even back then at such a young age I thought my grandfather was talking silly. How could a dish “talk”. I remember the waiter put a big plate of “crispy rice thing” on the table and wondering why they served crispy popped rice treats and when will it talk. Crispy popped rice treats, or “爆米香”, are a kind of street dessert in Taiwan. During the process of making this dish the machines that make them sound like they have really loud fireworks going off inside. If you walk down a street in Taiwan and someone is making Guoba, it almost sounds like a bomb is going off. It’s funny, scary, crazy.

So, two minutes later, the same waiter came back with a pot of hot, steamy, fragrant shrimp sauce and sourced the sauce on top of this weird looking crispy rice thing and the moment the sauce touched the guoba, a loud sizzling sound came out and it was absolutely eye opening to me! That was my first memory of this fun and interesting dish.

Nowadays you can guoba that has already been cooked and is “ready-to- use” in supermarkets so the first time I made it was for an article I was asked to make for Today.com. Luckily, I always have my mother and grandmother (the latter being an amazing cook) available on Skype to ask for tips.

HOW TO PREPARE THE RICE FOR GUOBA

This is the longest process for making this dish. Measurements in the recipe below, I first of all rinse the rice three times before using a rice cooker to cook all the rice. I use a water/rice ratio of 1:1 (1 cup rice, 1 cup water). Every rice cooker model has slightly different requirements but as a general starting point, 1:1 usually works). In case you’re wondering why I use a rice cooker, well, almost everyone in the Far East uses one. They produce very reliable cooking results and you can use them to make soups, steam vegetables and different kinds of meats, desserts and all kinds of other things. They’re not just limited to cooking rice and they don’t have to be expensive so I definitely recommend investing in one.

The rice for Guoba should be like the rice that you will use for cooking fried rice. I used Taiwan Chishang rice “池上米” for this recipe but you can use any other kind of Chinese rice, Japanese rice or Korean rice for making this dish.

Some tips for making Guoba:

1. Dehydration is the key! If your rice is dehydrated properly then you have a better chance of getting a crispy texture. The wetter the rice, the less chance of crispy. I left the freshly cooked rice in a fridge overnight before baking in my oven. By leaving the rice overnight, it helps the rice stay in shape as so when you slice the rice it will keep it’s shape better (won’t fall apart).
2. If you find it’s hard to spread the rice on the tray with your spatula or spoon, apply some cooking oil on the surface of your spatula or spoon. The same thing with the knife you use to slice the rice as well.
3. If you find the knife is hard to slice the rice then use a food scissor to cut it. If you find the rice is falling apart use your hand to gently press them back together.
4. You can adjust the amount of seasoning or the amount of vegetables you use in this recipe as you wish. You can use tofu to replace shrimp if you are a vegan. You just need to air fry the tofu or pan fry the tofu until it’s lightly golden brown on both side and remember to use firm tofu.
5. Don’t worry too much and just enjoy the process of trying and making new dish! Cooking should be fun and free. Just enjoy the process.
6. If you want the “popping” sound when you pour the sauce on top of the guoba then you have to fry the guoba before you going to serve this dish so the guoba will be in the most fresh and crispy states and you will be able to hear the popping sound once you pour the sauce on.
7. You can make guoba ahead if you don’t really mind if this dish will make the noise or not. It will still taste delicious with or without the sound effects.

You can also eat guoba without any sauce and just treat it like a snack or rice crips. My husband and daughter love munching on guoba and I have to hide the guoba from them before the sauce is made, otherwise they’ll eat everything. You can store the baked rice sheet in the freezer for a couple months and fry it when you want to eat.