Autumn Chestnut Rice

September 13, 2013

The spring cherry blossoms in Japan are world famous but Autumn is equally beautiful as the leaves on the trees change into vibrant, fiery colours known as Koyo.

The Koyo starts in mid-September on the northern island of Hokkaido and slowly moves as transformed the whole country by the end of November.

This recipe uses some delicious autumn ingredients and is a fabulous accompaniment to both Japanese and Western dishes. It is unusual but tastes great and the ingredients are easy to find at Sushi Sushi and your local supermarket.

Take 2 medium sized, dried shitake mushrooms, soak them in a bowl of warm water for 30 minutes then squeeze them dry, cut off the stems and chop them up roughly.

Cut about 200g of chestnuts into quarters - they are easy to find at this time of year and can be bought fresh, tinned, dried or vacum packed. Each requires a slightly different preparation method but all give food that delicious smokey flavour.

Peel and dice a small sweet potato.

Mix the mushroom, chestnuts, sweet potato, a teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of mirin.

Add this mixture to a pan on the hob or a rice cooker and mix with your uncooked sushi rice and the required amount of water to cook it (just follow the instructions on the packet)

Cook the rice for 10-15minutes or as directed and, once it’s cooked. leave it to stand, covered for a further ten minutes.

Use a wooden rice paddle to break it up and served sprinkled with sesame seeds and daikon radish.

Enjoy!