The Lobster Dance

And indeed, a battle it was.

My friends tease me for blogging/discussing food basically non-stop, but I think about food preparation A LOT these days. I want to experience the food of this country, and so I wind up buying bags of vegetables, nuts, and fruit that I have no idea how to prepare, then learn–and then I have all sorts of Iron Chef war stories to tell. Remember my post on edamame?

Well, chestnuts are in season right now, and what is more delicious than chestnut-flavored everything? I got some chestnut gelato from the local gelato place; I’m sure grocery stores that actually carry Kit Kats have chestnut-flavored Kit Kats right now. Fall is in the air, and it was time for GAIJIN CHEF: CHESTNUT BATTLE.

I found a simple recipe for chestnut rice in my bilingual cookbook and a recipe for matcha-chestnut cake in my rice-cooker cookbook, so I decided I was going to cook all my chestnuts and go crazy with the cookery.

First, how do you cook a chestnut? There are several methods, all of which are PAINFUL.

For the chestnut rice, my cookbook recommended soaking the chestnuts (in shell) for an hour, then cutting the shell open, removing the meat, and peeling off the inner shell. That inner shell is pure evil. I got it off with a vegetable peeler somehow, but I definitely hurt my hands getting the outer shell off–a piece of the shell went between my fingernail and finger on my right thumb (pause for readers sucking in air through teeth) and cut my finger a little on the knife.

For my next round of chestnuts, I decided to boil them. The meat pops out easily when the chestnut is hot from roasting or boiling. Unfortunately, it also means you have to handle them while warm, and so my fingers were all a bit burnt in that way that touching hot food burns you. After a while, they cooled off too much to peel, so I cut a cross in the shell and microwaved them. This method helps the chestnuts 1. not to explode and 2. open up the shell to expose the meat. This method also does nothing for burning your fingers. I pulled my nail back a little from my finger peeling that tricksy outer shell and required yet another bandaid. Hungry yet?

Chestnut Rice: Delicious, but deadly?

The end result? A delicious batch of chestnut rice, a delicious matcha and chestnut cake, and hands bandaged so much I looked like a declawed kitten from the animal hospital I part-timed at in the ’90s. (Cat lady PSA: Don’t declaw unless it’s a last resort.) The moral of the story? Find a better way to prepare chestnuts. Edit: Buy fresh, shelled chestnuts (むき栗 muki kuri in the produce section).*

But look! See what I made?

Matcha and Chestnut Cake: Worth the Pain.

For our next cooking battle–a backlog of pumpkin stuff I made and whatever trouble I get into with eggplants tomorrow!

Recipe
“Simple Chestnut Rice”
Adapted from 100 Recipes from Japanese Cooking

Ingredients
Serves 3-4

Japanese rice – 1 2/3 oz / 2 Japanese cups/ 360 g
Water 2 1/2 US cups/ 3 Japanese cups/ 300 cc (If using a rice cooker, follow rice cooker’s water measure)
Salt – 1 tsp (US/Japanese)
Chestnuts* – 15 chestnuts/ 14 oz/ 400 g

Rice Cooker Version
1. Wash rice well. Drain water and place in the bowl of the rice cooker.
2. I recommend using むき栗 (muki kuri), or shelled chestnuts, for those of you who value your hands.* Cut them up into sixths or eighths and skip to step 4.
3. If you have whole raw chestnuts: Soak chestnuts in water for 30-60 min. Cut off bottom portion of chestnut, tear (oh, yes, tear) off outer skin, and working from bottom to top, peel off inner skin. I recommend a veggie peeler for the inner skin. Cut chestnuts into 6-8 pieces(or scoop out with tiny spoon or a sewing needle and cry) and soak again for 30 min.
4. Add water to the rice-cooker bowl to appropriate line (marked on the inside of the bowl). Dissolve salt in the water-rice mixture.
5. Hit the “cook” button. Seriously. Japanese rice cookers make life much simpler.
6. After it finishes, leave the setting on “hold” (保温 setting) for 10 minutes. Fluff and serve. If you aren’t eating it right away, you can store it in the rice cooker for 1-2 days.

Stove Top Version
1. Wash rice well and drain in a sieve, let stand for 30 min.
2. I recommend using むき栗 (muki kuri), or shelled chestnuts, for those of you who value your hands.* Cut them up into sixths or eighths and skip to step 4.
3. If you have whole raw chestnuts: Soak chestnuts in water for 30-60 min. Cut off bottom portion of chestnut, tear (oh, yes, tear) off outer skin, and working from bottom to top, peel off inner skin. I recommend a veggie peeler for the inner skin. Cut chestnuts into 6-8 pieces(or scoop out with tiny spoon or sewing needle and cry) and soak again for 30 min.
4. Dissolve salt in the water.
5. If you don’t have a rice cooker, buy one place rice, chestnuts, and salted water in a pot and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. When boiling, turn heat up to high for 1-2 minutes, then turn down to low and cook for 15-20 minutes. Turn up heat to high again at the finish for 30 seconds, and remove from heat.
6. Let stand for about 10 minutes, and stir lightly.

Notes
*Check the produce section of the grocery store. Chestnuts do go bad, so the shelled ones will probably be in the refrigerated section. You can also get bags of prepared and preserved chestnuts, which you can save for when they go out of season. However, these are not as delicious as fresh ones.