Roasted chestnut rice ( Kuri-gohan rice)

As promised, here is a delicious Japanese dish I made with the picked chestnuts for lunch today. I really like having roasted chestnut especially in autumn/winter. The warmth smoky aroma and sweetness of the roasted nut on it's own is already a delicacies for me. This is my first attempt on cooking Kuri-gohan and it did turn out well. :-)
The only tedious part of this recipes is peeling the chestnut skin after roasting, the rest is as easy as ABC. But the effort is well worth it..... so healthy and so simply smoky delicious.


Kuri-gohan Rice(Roasted chestnut rice)
Ingredients (good for 2 persons)

• 1.5 cup Japanese short grain rice
  
• 1.5 - 2 cups of water
• 20 chestnuts roasted and peeled
  
• 1 tbsp of mirin
• 2 tbsp sake
  
• 1 tsp salt
• Some steamed carrot/pumpkin/sweet potato (optional)
  
• Claypot/ Nabe pot
  

1. First of all make a crossing on the flat side of chestnut before roasting. This will elliminate the chestnut from exploding during roasting. Place on a roasting tin and roast in an oven for 30-40minutes at 200C.
2. Once the chestnut is nicely roasted, peeled the skin when it's still hot and this will be so much easier compared when it is cold.
3. Wash the uncooked rice, then put them onto the pot. Add water, mirin, sake and salt. Cook on high heat until the water is boiling. Turn to low heat, and add in chestnut on top of the rice. Close the lid. Let it cook on low heat for 35minutes until the rice is cook. You can use rice cooker as well but I prefer claypot as it create a crispy rice crust that is smoky on top of the smoky sweetness of chestnut.
   
4. Served hot with carrot/pumpkin/sweet potato.
   
5. Enjoy of course :-)
   

Stay tuned for more autumn colors...............


Nutritional Tips:
Most people don't think of nuts as a low-fat food, but chestnuts are the exception. Low in fat, 100 grams or 3.5 ounces of cooked chestnuts, contain a mere 1 to 3 grams of total fat compared to the same quantity of almonds with about 50.6 grams of fat. You've probably guessed they're also low in calories with that same measure of cooked chestnuts containing between 57 and 153 calories depending on the variety. The Chinese chestnuts tip the scale with the higher figure.

Protein is not a highpoint for chestnuts that contain only minimal amounts, ranging from 0.82 to 2.88 grams for 3.5 ounces. However, unlike their other nut counterparts, they are very starchy, making them a little higher in energy-boosting carbohydrates. The Chinese chestnut tops the other varieties with 33.64 grams of carbohydrates for 3.5 ounces, while the Japanese variety measures 12.64 grams. It's their carbohydrates that make chestnuts, once dried and ground, into an excellent, highly nutritious flour.

Of all the nuts, chestnuts are the only ones that contain Vitamin C. One ounce of boiled or steamed chestnuts delivers between 9.5 mg and 26.7 mg of the vitamin, while the dried variety has double the vitamin totaling 15.1 mg to 61.3 mg for 3.5 ounces.

All three varieties, the Chinese, Japanese, and European, contain B vitamins including folacin. All have significant amounts of trace minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, manganese, copper, selenium, and zinc and are an especially rich source of potassium ranging from 119 mg to 715 mg for 3.5 ounces.