The air is cooler, the days are shorter, and seeing chestnuts on the grocery store shelves are hints that brought to my memory of cosy evening dinners with Kuri Gohan (chestnuts rice). Chestnuts give a nutty flavour to plain rice and I have an easy way to cook chestnuts that I must share!
Table of contents
How to cook chestnuts without breaking nails
Chestnuts are my favourite nuts and I reckon they are the most delicious nuts. But it is very hard to prepare chestnuts without breaking your nails. Food presentation is somewhat important to me. So I try hard to keep the beautiful chestnuts shape intact when it is cooking. Often, in fact almost every time I break my nails. But no more! I figured out how to cook chestnuts without damaging my nails.
3 points to look for when you buy chestnuts
- Pick ones that are hard and glossy on the surface and round.
- Avoid the ones that have got little holes or scratches – these may be eaten by insects.
- Choose chestnuts that feel heavy when you hold them in your hand.
The easy Japanese way to remove the hard outer shell
Chestnuts that you buy in a store, are not that fresh. It has already been some time since they were harvested. So it is better to cook them straight away. Remove the outer shell by using scissors (be careful not to injure yourself). If you have time, soak them in a bowl of water overnight, but if you don’t have time, place chestnuts in a pot and pour enough water to just cover the chestnuts. Bring the water to boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes over low heat. Remove the astringent skin one by one.
Cook chestnuts into daily home cooking the Japanese way
I just love chestnuts, so I can eat boiled chestnuts even simply as a snack. In Japan, chestnuts are often used to make sweets such as Montblanc cake, Shibukawani (simmered with astringent skin intact), and Kuri Kinton. It is also often cooked with rice known as Kuri Gohan and Kuri Okowa (or Sekihan).
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Kuri Gohan 栗ご飯
Ingredients
- 500 g chestnuts
- 1 3/4 cups short grain rice
- 1/4 cup glutinous wheat or sweet rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tsp black sesame seeds
Instructions
- Prepare chestnuts by using kitchen scissors to remove the outer hard skin. Leave the astringent skin intact.
- Place them in a saucepan or pot and pour enough water to cover the chestnuts.
- Start to heat the pot over high heat to bring it to boil.
- Once it has boiled, turn the heat down to low / medium and simmer to cook the chestnuts for about 20 minutes.
- Drain the hot water and add cold water so that you can handle the chestnuts but the chestnuts will not get dry.
- Carefully remove the astringent skin with hands and set aside all.
- Wash the rice and glutinous wheat until the washing water becomes clearer (about 3-4 times). Drain the water completely.
- Place the washed rice and the glutinous wheat into a rice cooker.
- Pour 2 cups of water and add salt and sake.
- Place the chestnuts over the rice.
- Close the rice cooker lid and set the rice cooker, following the rice cooker instructions.
- When it is cooked, stir gently. Try not to break the chestnuts shape.
- Serve in a rice bowl and sprinkle black sesame seeds.
I love kuri gohan! Thank you for the helpful recipe to make it
Me too! Kuri gohan is my favourite <3
I am new to your site and am learning about Japanese food from your recipes. However, I do object to the ads that pop up over the content. When one attempts to close them, it takes you to the photos but with no way to scroll thru them. Attempting to scroll down past these annoying ads is also not effective.
Hi Barbara, thank you for visiting Chopstick Chronicles. I place ads for keep sharing authentic Japanese recipes free for everyone 😀
Konichiwa! I made this recipe and we enjoyed it. It’s a good way to make use of leftover chestnuts that have turned a little hard and dry. What would you recommend as a good dish to pair it with ? Arigato!
Konnichiwaw Nonna, any dish go with, miso soup, chawanmushi, agedashi tofu, nasu dengaku, etc 😀
This is very impressive and very helping blog. You explain each and every detail information cook chestnuts Kuri Gohan. Thanks for sharing this blog with us.
You are welcome Micheal 😀
Hello, congratulations on your book’s publication ☺️ It must be a wonderful feeling. I’m going to try your chestnut rice but wondered if you could clarify.. is glutinous wheat gluten flour? Thank you.
Thank you Sally 😀 It is glutinous rice. It is also known as sweet rice though it is not sweet. It is a type of very sticky rice to make mochi.
Would a similar idea work for other nuts like hazel nuts?
Hi Josh, I am not sure as I have never tried. When chest nuts is cooked, the texture is like purple sweet potato. If hazel nuts and other is like that, I think it would work but if the nuts texture is hard, may be it will not work.
This sounds wonderful. I have some chestnuts waiting to be used. I’m about to make Sichuan Crispy Fried Pork for the first time today. I guess this would go well with it even though It’s Chinese 🙂 I normally have a very simple way of eating chestnuts. I cut with a knife one slit down it length ways. So from the pointy tip to the bottom then put it in the microwave till it opens up kind of like a flower. The oven is better for flavour but the microwave only take minutes.
Ohhhh really Sue? I have never tried to cook chestnuts in microwave! Thank you for sharing another cooking chestnuts method 😀