Kuri Gohan (Japanese Chestnut Rice)

Mochigome brings more amylopectin starch than plain short-grain rice, and that starch is what keeps kuri gohan glossy and a little sticky even after it cools to room temperature, which matters if the rice is going into a bento box a few hours later. The usual ratio is about a quarter mochigome to three quarters regular rice, roughly 75 g to 225 g for a 2-gō batch; go much higher and the rice turns almost as chewy as okowa, the fully glutinous version. You can skip the mochigome entirely and use all short-grain rice instead. Just One Cookbook notes that the plain version is firmer right out of the pot, but it also does not turn as hard the next day, since there is less of the starch that stiffens on cooling, so it is worth trying if you plan to eat leftovers cold.

Soak the chestnuts in hot water around 50°C for at least 20 minutes first; a cold chestnut shell fights the knife, a warmed one gives way easily. Set each chestnut flat-side down, cut a thin disc off the pointed bottom where the two shell halves meet, and use that flat edge as your starting point instead of trying to stab into the rounded top. From there, wedge the knife tip under the cut edge and peel the hard outer shell off in one or two long strips, then do the same with the thinner, bitter inner skin. Twenty to twenty-five chestnuts take most people 20 to 25 minutes once they get into a rhythm, and working through a whole batch while watching something on a screen makes the time pass faster than you would think.

Yes, and it is the version most Japanese home cooks reach for on a weeknight. Frozen peeled chestnuts need nothing more than a quick thaw and a drain before they go on top of the rice; use about 250 to 300 g in place of the 400 g of fresh, unpeeled chestnuts in this recipe, since none of that weight is shell. Sweetened roasted chestnuts, amaguri, work too and skip the peeling step completely, though they push the finished rice toward a noticeably sweeter, almost dessert-like flavour, so many cooks cut the added salt by half when using them. Jarred chestnuts packed in syrup should be rinsed first, or the syrup will throw off the salt-to-liquid balance in the pot.

Peeled chestnut flesh oxidizes within minutes of contact with air, the same way a cut apple browns, and if the peeled chestnuts sit out instead of going straight into a bowl of cold water, that surface discoloration cooks into the rice as a dull grey-brown tint instead of the pale yellow you want. Change that soaking water two or three times over 30 minutes rather than once, since chestnut starch keeps leaching colour the whole time. A hard, chalky texture usually points to insufficient soaking of the rice itself before cooking; 30 minutes minimum, even in a rice cooker, is what lets the grains absorb enough water to cook through instead of staying dense at the centre. Rice made with no mochigome at all is naturally a bit firmer too, so if that texture bothers you, mix in the 75 g of glutinous rice the recipe calls for.

It is one of the better uses for leftovers, since the mochigome in the mix already gives the rice enough stickiness to hold a triangle shape without extra effort. Let the rice cool until it is just warm to the touch, wet your hands with lightly salted water the way you would for any onigiri, and pack it loosely so you do not crush the chestnut pieces inside. A few whole chestnut pieces pressed into the centre make each rice ball feel more substantial than a plain rice onigiri, and a strip of nori wrapped around the outside keeps your hands clean while you eat. Kuri gohan onigiri keep for a day at room temperature, wrapped, and are one of the more traditional cold lunchbox fillers during the fall harvest season.