One more kuri gohan (chestnut rice)

Kuri gohan is one of the many classic Japanese rices, and well there are different versions.

Kuri is Japanese chestnut, slightly different from the European one (see here).
Sometimes it’s called gohan, as it’s standard rice. Other times, it’s okowa, which means it’s steamed sticky rice.

yaki kuri gohan (grilled)

kuri okowa

A more common style (from a commercial site I am not related to, I just needed to borrow a photo for a while) :
kuri source
That’s white rice cooked with chestnuts in syrup. That’s more like a dessert version. I like it too that’s I also… no, I’ve never cooked it so far. I eat it with pleasure when it’s served but I always end up with a grilled version.

The list is open… Add your oen version.

This time, it’s yaki (grilled), of course.

I have soaked the rice (half brown, half white) in water 24 hours, then added the grilled chestnuts with their inner skin, a glass of white wine, a dry chili pepper and a pinch of salt, and let one more night. Before starting the rice cooker, I’ve added goji berries.

Brochettes et marrons

Brochette is the French for skewer, and it’s usually meat and veggie ones. Then the season of kuri (Japanese chestnut)is open…

Small steak cuts of lean Japanese beef.

On skewers with onion and red sweet pepper. I’ve passed olive oil, salt, black pepper and thyme. Let one hour.

Then grilled.

The chestnuts roasted with a few small sweet potatoes.

This fiery soup is made in the blender with the cut outs of onion, red pepper, a glass of white wine, 2 tbs of sesame, 1 ts of miso. Then simmered a few minutes.

Ume by Botticelli. Rain plums in a shell.

This shellfish looks beautiful and make beautiful dishes. Hotate (scallops) from Hokkaido. I’ve associated them with ume, the sour green plums of rainy season

Well, they were very full. I discard the black part, clean well and keep the strings and bits for a soup.
I just cut the “nut” , painted with olive oil and grilled.

Served with ume pesto :

Paste a raw ume plum, fresh oregano, roast sesame seed, a little salt. Add olive oil and cane sugar.

Then enjoy a sip of broth. Mmmmm…

Yakitori tsukune

Tonight yakitori !
But the photos are… night photos. Sorry.

You’ll see nicer in this post with 2 more versions of this basic skewer. And a mini-compil :

other yakitori

Soft tsukune recipe :
-For about 150g of meat (not too lean ground chicken), I’ve added a 1 tbs of ginger (minced), 1 tbs of leek (minced), 1 ts of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, 2 tbs of sake, 1 tbs of sesame oil, plus a little more salt. After adding the previous ingredients and kneading, I’ve mixed in 2 big tbs of potato starch and about 1/2 cup of water. I let it rest 2 hours so flavors can mix.
-Then the balls are formed and boiled. Bring a pot of water to ebullition, pass on medium heat and throw in freshly made balls. When they are done, they are white all around and they come afloat. Take them away. They can be cooled and stored for a later meal, or used immediately.
-Put balls on skewers, oil, salt and grill. It’s the simple “salt grilled style”.

Yuzu citrus and togarashi hot chili pepper tsukune. I also made nira tsukune by adding minced nira (garlic chive) to the mix.

With the broth I made a soup, adding slices of ginger, shimeji mushrooms and negi leeks.

Lacquered yakitori balls and grilled kabocha

Sauce tsukune.

Sesame tsukune.
Two more variation of tsukune (meat balls) of yakitori (grilled chicken skewer bars). For simple “salt” version, see here.

Yep, they are painted…

The boiled balls (preparation here) are put on skewers, then painted several times with sauce, before, during and after being grilled under the broiler or on a brasero. I have not made my sauce, I’ve used the fruity Bulldog sauce (more here). Some yakitori shops use that, but most make their mix.
For the sesame ones, after 2 or 3 times, I stopped adding sauce but passed the skewer in a mix of white and black sesame seeds.

As I used the oven-toaster, I also grilled thin slices of kabocha pumpkin. Just like that, no salt, no oil. It’s delicious.

Vegetables (raw red onion, blanched and cooled okra and ninniku-no-me garlic stalks) and the leftover of creamy pesto dressing (preparation here). I mixed and let one hour.