September 4, 2009

Kuri Okowa (Glutinous Rice Cooked with Chestnuts)/栗おこわ

Two days ago, I got a box of chestnuts and other foodstuffs from my parents, who live in Chiba prefecture. That means that the fall is here again! What am I going to do with the chestnuts? Making kuri okowa, naturally! I love kuri okowa! To make kuri okowa, you must use glutinous rice, that is, mochi rice, not regular rice (uruchi mai in Japanese). That being said, I found that I didn't have enough mochi rice, so I also used some uruchi mai.
Thus, here is what I did:
2.5 go mochi rice
1.5 go regular rice
2.5 + 1.5 = 4 go
(1 go = 180 ml = 140 to 150 g in the case of rice)
In Japan, we usually use the metric system, but in the case of rice, we still use the unit of go.
30 large chestnuts, peeled
1 tbsp sake
1 tsp salt
Proper amount of water
I cannot specify the amount of water, because I use more chestnuts than most recipes call for.
You can peel chestnuts with a regular knife, but I use this special gadget, called Kurikuri Bozu. Even so, it took me more than half an hour to peel 30 chestnuts!
二日前、千葉県に住む両親から、栗や他の食べ物が入った段ボール箱が届きました。つまり、また秋が来たということです。この栗で何をするかって?もちろん、栗おこわを作ります!栗おこわは大好きです。栗おこわを作るには、普通のお米(うるち米)ではなく、もち米を使います。とは言うものの、もち米が足りなかったので、うるち米も使いました。
と言うわけで、こうしました:
もち米2.5合
うるち米1.5合
2.5 + 1.5 = 4合
(1合 = 180 ml = お米の場合は140~150 g)
日本では、メートル法を使いますが、お米の場合は、いまだに合という単位を使っています。
大きな栗30個、皮を剥く
お酒大さじ1
塩小さじ1
水適量
水の量は指定できません。レシピーに書いてある数より多くの栗を使うからです。
栗は普通の包丁でも剥けますが、私は「栗くり坊主」という特別な道具を使います。それでも栗を30個剥くのに30分以上かかりました!



2 comments:

Towkay said...

Hiro:

I love chestnuts, we usually use them for turkey stuffing during Thanksgiving. They are a pain in the neck to peel. A few years ago, my brother and I spent a few hours shelling a large batch during christmas. We put them in the oven to roast, and forgot about them. Due to the high starch content, they were completely burnt beyond salvage. My brother, a grown man, was near tears over that. haha.

These days we buy premade ones from france. Not the same i tell you. The japanese chestnuts look a little lighter than ours, i wonder if its a different species.

Hiroyuki said...

Towkay: Yes, Japanese chestnuts are smaller than a European variety, and Chinese chestnuts are even smaller (and easy to peel). Have you ever had Tenshin amaguri (Tianjin sweet roasted chestnuts) or 天津甘栗?