kuri gohan

I bought a bag of chestnuts at the market...about 450 grams, for 498 yen plus tax.

And then I found a teeny chestnut when we went to Cosmos no Sato. (the one on the right came out of the bag of chestnuts that I bought)

I read somewhere that you should soak your chestnuts overnight so that they are easier to peel...so that is what I did.

Cut the "butt" off of the chestnut to start peeling the hard shell...if you are lucky, you'll find a "heart"...

With your knife, carefully peel the fuzzy skin and the skin closest to the chestnut.

It is very difficult to just peel off the skins, so just be prepared to lose some of the chestnut flesh while peeling.

When you are done peeling, soak the chestnuts in water, this helps get out the aku (bitter taste).

I ended up with 350 grams or so of chestnuts.

Wash 1.5 cups of white rice and 1/2 cup of mochi rice.

Add 2 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sake (rice wine), mix well.

Turn your rice cooker on and let it do its job.

Enjoy!

NOTES: this turned out better than the Yaki Kuri Gohan I made back in 2006 and way better than the one I made back in 2012.

Even though I still managed to poke the softest part under my thumbnail while peeling the hard shell...ow! This was worth it.