Chestnut Rice

Kuri Gohan

My favorite autumn donabe rice dish

Equipment

Double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san" (3 rice-cup size)

Servings

4 - 6

Ingredients

• 20-24 medium-large chestnuts in shells (or you can also use packaged kind of already peeled and roasted chestnuts, if it’s out of season)
• 1 rice-cup (180 ml) short grain rice, rinsed and drained
• 1 rice-cup (180 ml) sweet rice, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (330 ml) dashi stock
• 2 tablespoons sake
• 1 tablespoon light-color soy sauce ("usukuchi shoyu")
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (120 g) shimeji mushrooms

Procedure

1. To peel the chestnuts, first, bring ample amount of water to a boil and pour into a medium bowl. Add the chestnuts in shells and soak for 10 minutes. drain and peel each chestnuts with a pairing knife. Keep the peeled chestnuts in cold water until ready, then drain.
2. In “Kamado-san”, combine the rice with the dashi, sake, soy sauce, and salt. Spread the shimeji mushrooms on the surface, followed by the peeled and chestnuts. Let the rice soak in the liquid for 20 minutes.
3. Cover “Kamado-san” with both lids and cook over medium-high heat for 13-15 minutes or until 2-3 minutes after the steam starts puffing from the top lid.
4. Turn off the heat and let it stand for 20 minutes. Gently fluff the rice and serve into individual bowls.

• Addition of sweet rice (also called "mochi rice") gives the nice sticky texture to the dish. If you don’t have sweet rice, you can make the dish only with the short grain rice (so use 2 rice-cups of short grain rice).