Kuri gohan / steamed rice with chestnuts

A fall rice dish with starchy, sweet chestnuts.

1/3 of above recipe:
225 calories; 3. 7g protein; 0.6 g fat; 48.1 g carbohydrate; 46.8 g net carbs; 191 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.3 g fiber

1/2 of recipe:
338 calories; 5.6g protein; 0.9 g fat; 72.2 g carbohydrate; 70.3 g net carbs; 286 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.9 g fiber 


<Ingredients>

3/4 cup* regular rice
1/4 cup* mochigome sweet rice
6-8 chestnuts
1 tbsp sake
1/2 tsp salt
1 small piece kombu kelp
(*180 cc cup, when using rice cooker)

See Notes for ingredients of the reduced-sodium version

<Directions>
1.

Wash regular and sweet rice together, drain, and let sit for 30-60 minutes.

2.

Prepare chestnuts.
Place chestnuts in a bowl. Boil water, pour over chestnuts, and let cool.

When cool, peel skin. First cut the bottom, and skin other sides.

Even when inside skin comes off, thinly remove surface, as it becomes brown when cooked.

Cut each chestnut into two (optional).

3.

When ready to cook, add sake and water to slightly below the 1-cup mark.

Add salt and chestnuts, mix well, place kombu kelp piece, and cook.

4.

When done, wait 10 minutes, remove kombu, and gently turn and mix rice.

<Notes>

• Soaking chestnuts in hot water softens the outer shell and makes them easy to peel.
• Reduced-sodium version: Use 1 tsp shiokoji salted rice malt instead of 1/2 tsp salt in the above recipe, and sprinkle pinch salt (0.2g; less than 1/10 tsp kosher salt) when rice is done and fluffed up. Salt at the end does not need to be fully incorporated into rice. The difference in saltiness highlights the sweetness of chestnuts as you eat kuri gohan. Sodium content per serving would be 167mg (1/2 of above recipe) or 111mg (1/3 of above recipe).
   

(Last updated: October 9, 2014)