The taste qualities of chestnuts add up legends. Someone's taste resembles baked potatoes in combination with nuts, while others claim that the most delicious nuts are those that were collected in the fall, because they have so much sweetness! These fruits have found their application in cooking not a century ago, and you can learn how to cook chestnuts from this article.

How to cook edible chestnuts in a pan

Many of us can’t even imagine what kind of pleasure there are chestnuts. But in other countries they are served as an independent dish or used in the preparation of soups, side dishes and even desserts. If you ventured into a culinary experiment with such an exotic nut, then we will show you how to cook it correctly. The main thing is that there are hot chestnuts, as they cool, they lose their unique taste.

The easiest way to cook such fruits is to simply fry them in a pan. But before answering the question of how to roast chestnuts, it should be warned that before any method of processing them, you need to soak the nuts and use only those that have fallen to the bottom of the container.

Each fruit must be incised or punctured so that they do not explode during cooking.

Cooking method:

  1. We put chestnuts in a pan with oil and cover them with a paper towel. So that the fruits do not dry out, in the process of frying, the towel needs to be moistened.
  2. Roast nuts under the lid for half an hour. It is recommended to periodically shake them directly under the lid.
  3. Sprinkle the finished nuts with salt or granulated sugar.

Step by step recipe in the oven

This is an even easier way to make chestnuts.It is even easier than frying them in a pan.

Cooking method:

  1. On the baking sheet we lay out the chestnuts, do not forget to pierce each fruit.
  2. Put the form in the oven for 40 minutes.
  3. We serve fruits sweet or salty.

Microwave

You can also fry chestnuts in the microwave; this is also a simple and safe option for their preparation. True, in this way they are obtained not so much fried as steamed.

Cooking method:

  1. We add the notched fruits into a wide container, sprinkle with salt and pour three tablespoons of water (hot).
  2. We close the dishes and put in the microwave for 8 - 10 minutes, setting the maximum power on the device.

Air-grilled chestnuts

Aerogrill can also be used to make chestnuts. To do this, take a baking sheet from the appliance, spread the cut nuts on it and bake them for 20 to 30 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C. The lower and upper grilles can be covered with foil - so the fruits will be softer.

Once you master the basic recipes, you can safely take on other, more interesting recipes. For example, you can cook soup from chestnuts, bake them with meat or please your loved ones with an original dessert.

How to cook chestnuts

There are two ways to cook chestnuts.

  1. The first is that the cut fruits are dipped in boiling water, boiled for five minutes, then removed and peeled from the film and shell. It is in these parts that bitterness is concentrated, and if they are not removed, the dish will be spoiled. Next, pour the peeled nuts with clean water and cook for 15 minutes. Boiled chestnuts can be served by pouring them with oil, as a side dish or used to make salads. Also, a decoction of chestnuts can be used as the basis for the preparation of first courses.
  2. The second method differs in that at first the fruits are baked in the oven and as soon as the shell bursts, they are removed, peeled and then, like the first method, they are boiled for 15 minutes.
  3. You can cook exotic nuts in milk. To do this, put 300 g of peeled nuts in a saucepan, pour a glass of milk and cook the fruits for 40 minutes. At this time, mix a spoonful of flour with two tablespoons of melted butter, add salt and sugar to taste. Add sauce to chestnuts, mix and remove from heat.

Chestnut Dessert with Honey

Such a phrase as “chestnuts with honey” sounds strange to someone, but in fact, autumn makes a delicious dessert from such ingredients. The finished dish combines several flavoring shades at once - sour, bitter and sweet. In many countries, such a treat is served with green tea for breakfast or afternoon tea.

Ingredients:

  • 230 g chestnuts;
  • 180 g feijoa;
  • half a lemon;
  • honey to taste.

Cooking method:

  1. We spread the chopped nuts in a dry pan and fry for 15 minutes.
  2. Remove the shell and cut the fruit in half.
  3. Peeled feijoa cut into thin plastics and put on chestnuts.
  4. Pour the finished dish with citrus juice and honey.

Cooking chestnut puree

You can cook chestnuts in the form of mashed potatoes or cream.

Mashed potatoes are ideal for making soups, pastries and other desserts. The cream is used for making mousse, ice cream and cakes.

The cream can also be mixed with yogurt, cottage cheese, granola or just eat it with toast.

Ingredients for mashed potatoes:

  • 230 g chestnuts;
  • a spoonful of sugar;
  • 130 ml of milk;
  • a spoonful of ghee.

Cooking method:

  1. Already peeled chestnuts are put in a pan and cooked in milk for 40 minutes.
  2. Through a sieve, wipe the boiled fruits with the milk broth and return to the stove.
  3. We put pieces of butter, add sugar, mix, warm all the ingredients well and remove from heat.

If you plan to use chestnut puree as a side dish for meat or poultry, then use salt instead of a sweetener, and also add onion or celery to the recipe.

Ingredients for Cream:

  • 1 kg of chestnuts;
  • 160 ml of cream;
  • 160 g of sugar;
  • 60 g ghee;
  • vanilla pod.

Cooking method:

  1. First you need to make mashed potatoes from nuts.To do this, cook the fruits for 10 minutes, then pour out the hot water and pour the cold. Five minutes later, we take out the nuts, peel and grind them with a blender or wipe through a sieve.
  2. Now you need to cook the sweet syrup from water, sugar and vanilla pod. To prepare the syrup should take no more than three minutes.
  3. Pour the finished syrup into chestnut puree, put the mixture on the fire and cook until thickened for about 15 minutes. Such a cream can already be used for desserts or as a spread of toast with jam.

If you add cream instead of water, then it will already turn out to be a creamy cream. For its preparation we also prepare mashed potatoes, mix it with warmed cream, sugar and vanilla. Cook the cream until thickened for 15 minutes, then put pieces of oil in it, mix and remove from heat. If the cream is too thick, then still dilute it with cream.

Turkish traditional recipe

At the height of winter, the streets of Turkish cities are filled with the aromas of roasted chestnuts. Turkish residents offer their guests to try a variety of dishes from such an exotic walnut. One of the special treats is Kestane Sekeri - a candied edible chestnut, the recipe of which you will learn right now.

Ingredients:

  • a kilo of chestnuts;
  • a kilo of granulated sugar;
  • 450 g of glucose;
  • vanillin to taste.

Cooking method:

  1. First of all, peel the fruits. To do this, put them in boiling water for three minutes, then remove the shell and cook in pure water for 15 minutes.
  2. Pour water into the stewpan, pour sugar and glucose, put on fire.
  3. As soon as the sweet solution thickens, put the chestnuts in it and after the syrup with nuts boils, turn off, cover and leave it warm all night.
  4. The next day, the process must be repeated and after repeated cooling add vanilla.
  5. Now it remains to lay the nuts on the wire rack and dry until a matte color is formed.

How to clean chestnuts properly

By tradition, chestnuts are fried on charcoal, the peel bursts from heat and then easily peels off.

At home, you can use more affordable methods for cleaning them.

  1. Chestnuts can be fried in a pan, the main thing is not to forget to cut them. On heated fruits, the peel bursts with a simple press. The film will remain on the core, it can be left or easily removed with a knife.
  2. We cut the shell and dip in boiling water for 10 minutes. As a result of such heat treatment, the shell is removed together with the film.
  3. Chestnuts can be cleaned in another way - in the oven. To do this, send the baking tray with nuts for 10 minutes in an oven heated to 200 ° C for 10 minutes. As a result of heating, the peel becomes soft and easy to clean.
  4. A microwave will also help peel nuts. Just put the fruits in a special bowl with a lid and set to normal mode for 30 minutes.
  5. And the last method involves the use of a freezer. Chestnuts need to be frozen, and then lowered for several minutes in boiling water.

At the end of the article I want to say that for cooking, the wrong chestnut that we often find on our streets is used. This is a special type of the Beech family - sowing chestnut Castanea sativa. The birthplace of edible chestnut is Asia Minor, as well as Southern and Eastern Europe. Today, this type of deciduous tree grows on the southern coast of Crimea, the Caucasus, Dagestan and Moldova.

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