How to cook chestnuts: culinary tricks and best recipes

How to cook chestnuts to make a really tasty and healthy dish? To obtain the desired result, it is necessary to start with a careful selection of the fruit and its correct preliminary preparation. Next, choose a cooking method.

Chestnuts are consumed simply fried or boiled. Various dishes are prepared from edible nuts: soups, desserts, sauces.

Are all chestnuts edible

Chestnuts grow in nature, both edible and inedible. Most often in parks and along roads we meet horse chestnut... In the spring it pleases us with a beautiful flowering, but its fruits are completely inedible. Under natural conditions, edible chestnuts grow in southern France, Italy and Spain. Smaller varieties are successfully grown in Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Caucasus. The fruits are harvested and prepared from a variety of dishes.

For long-term storage, chestnuts are baked or boiled, and then sent to the freezer.

Even in Japan, on the island of Honshu, the uniquely tasting Tamba chestnuts grow. The edible fruit is sweet when fresh. They are used to make waffle fillings, delicious rice balls, unusual beer snacks.

Raw chestnuts taste like unripe nuts. Traditionally cooked, the fruit tastes like a baked potato with a subtle nutty flavor.

The main way to cook chestnuts is to fry them in drums or in a pan. But there are many more cooking methods that we will look at today.

How to microwave chestnuts

You can microwave chestnuts in just 7 minutes. We need the machine itself and fresh chestnuts.

Cooking steps:

1. Wash the chestnuts and make a cruciform incision on them.
2. To cook nuts, you need a special container that can be used in the microwave. Put the cut chestnuts in it.
3. Lightly salt and add a little water. Mix.
4. Microwave the chestnuts using the most powerful setting. The readiness of the nuts is determined by sound. They hiss.

How to pan chestnuts

Roasting chestnuts in a pan is the easiest way to cook nuts.

To make the peel of the chestnut fruit softer, pour boiling water over them for 5 minutes or boil for 3 minutes

Drain the pretreated chestnuts. Leave to cool. Make cruciform incisions on both sides. This will make it much easier to peel the roasted chestnuts.

Use a heavy-bottomed skillet to cook chestnuts. Put the nuts in one layer in a preheated pan. Dampen and wring a tea towel. Cover the chestnuts with it. Set the heat to medium and fry the nuts on both sides for 40 minutes. Turn nuts every 4 minutes. If the towel is dry, you need to wet it again.

Excessive consumption of edible chestnuts can harm health.

Cooking chestnuts in a slow cooker

The principle of cooking chestnut fruit in multicooker practically does not differ from the method of cooking in the oven or microwave.

During the cooking process, a clicking sound is heard, this is the skin cracking. To prevent the nuts from exploding or bursting, they must be cut.

Cooking process:

1. Go through the chestnuts and check for damage. Wash well and make incisions
2. Put nuts in a multicooker bowl.
3. Set one of the modes: "Cook", "Roast" or "Oven".Set the timer to 20 minutes. Check that the cooking temperature is not higher than 200 ° C.
4. Close the cover and start the unit.
5. After turning off the multicooker, get ready-made chestnuts and completely peel them off.

How to grill chestnuts

To grill chestnuts, you need a special perforated pan.

Carefully sort out the chestnuts purchased or collected with your own hands, putting aside soft, rotten or cracked chestnuts. Chestnuts with dents are not suitable for cooking. Rinse the selected nuts well with water at room temperature. Drain and place the chestnuts on a towel. This is the preliminary preparation of the fruit.

Place the chestnuts flat on the table. Use a sharp knife to cut the brown skin in each chestnut. You do not need to cut the white flesh so that the nuts do not fall apart when peeling. Pour the cut fruits with cold water for 2 hours. Remove the chestnuts from the water and start cooking.

Put the chestnuts in one layer in a frying pan and fry over charcoal. Cooking time approx. 20 min. Shake the pan from time to time to mix the nuts.

Do not place the chestnut pan too close to the fire. The nuts will not cook or burn.

Prepare a terry towel. Put the chestnuts on it and wrap it well, putting something else warm on top. Hold the nuts for at least 5 minutes.

Delicious chestnuts in the oven

The chestnuts can be baked in the oven instead of the traditional roasting. This does not make the fruit taste worse.

Cooking steps:

1. If you get chestnuts with a prickly skin, you must remove it. Wash and dry peeled nuts well.
2. To prevent the chestnuts from exploding and bursting during baking, make cuts.
3. Preheat an electric or gas oven to 220 ° C.
4. Turning the nuts, cut them down, put them in one layer on a baking sheet.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the fruits do not burn. Finished nuts become soft and the skin peels off easily.
6. Put the hot chestnuts in a cloth bag. Tie it tightly and shake well. Separate the fruit from the peel and serve

Large chestnuts can be baked directly on the wire shelf.

How to cook chestnuts

You can cook the edible fruits of the chestnut not only in water, but also in milk. Let's consider both cooking methods.

Cooking chestnuts in water:

1. Wash 300 g chestnuts well. Make cuts in the peel.
2. Boil 1 liter of water in a saucepan and add the chestnuts. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
3. Drain the water and let the nuts cool slightly. Peel the peel that has burst during cooking.
4. Pour 1 liter of cold water over the peeled nuts. Boil for 15 minutes.
5. Drain the water. Pour boiled chestnuts with melted butter. Sprinkle with a mixture of chopped nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves on top.

Cooking chestnuts in milk:

1. Take 300 g of good chestnuts. Wash. Make incisions.
2. Pour 1.5 liters of boiling water over the nuts. Cook for 4 minutes.
3. Drain and cool the chestnuts slightly. Peel the fruit.
4. Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan to cook the chestnuts further. Pour the nuts into 1.5 liters of cold milk. Boil and cook over low heat for half an hour.
5. Serve the chestnuts hot and drizzle with melted butter.

Chestnuts boiled in milk have a creamy taste.

Candied chestnuts

We recommend making a delicious chestnut dessert. We are sure that all family members will like it.

Ingredients:

• chestnuts - 1 kg;
• sugar - 1 kg;
• water - 1 l;
• rum - 100 ml.

Cooking process:

1. Wash undamaged chestnuts and pour boiling water over for 5 minutes.
2. Drain and cut the peel. Remove it carefully.
3. Cook the peeled fruits in water until they are completely softened. However, they must remain intact.
4. In a separate saucepan, boil the sugar and water syrup. Boil for 10 minutes.
5. Dip the boiled chestnuts in boiling syrup and cook for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the pan from heat for an hour and repeat the process of cooking the candied chestnuts again. After 30 minutes, the nuts will become almost transparent.
7. Pour rum into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and transfer the finished dessert to the jam bowls.

How to cook chestnuts in soup

To make a soup with chestnuts called "Lick your fingers" you will need only 300 g of edible peeled nuts.

Cooking process:

1. Prepare meat broth in advance.
2. For a delicious soup, pour 1 - 1.2 liters of the finished broth.
3. Peel carrots and onions. Cut vegetables into cubes. Fry in vegetable oil until golden brown.
4. Put the fried vegetables and peeled chestnuts in a saucepan with broth. Season with salt and spices.
5. Cook the soup for a quarter of an hour.
6. Pick a few whole fruits from the pan. Beat the rest of the pan thoroughly with a blender.
7. Before serving, pour 2 tbsp into the puree soup. l. cream.

Decorate the soup with chopped herbs in a bowl.

Edible chestnut salad

A delicious salad can be prepared almost any time of the year, because it uses canned chestnuts. Especially tasty salads can be prepared in early autumn or summer when vegetables are ripe.

Ingredients for the salad:

• a can of canned chestnuts;
• carrots - 150 g;
• 4 sheets salad;
• 1 tbsp. l. calvados;
• 75 ml of vegetable oil.

Cooking steps:

1. Peel and chop the carrots into thin strips.
2. To remove bitterness from lettuce, immerse it in cold water for half an hour.
3. Open a jar of chestnuts and drain the juice.
4. Dry the lettuce leaves with a tea towel. Use your hands to tear them into medium-sized pieces.
5. Put lettuce leaves in a deep plate, then carrots, and chestnuts on top.
6. Prepare a dressing with vegetable oil, salt, calvados and a little hot pepper.
7. Pour the prepared dressing over the salad.

You can use roasted peeled chestnuts to prepare the salad.

When serving salad, sprinkle with almond petals and sesame seeds.

Potato pancakes with chestnuts

To prepare the dish, select 7 chestnuts without damage. They must be cut and boiled for about 10 minutes. Cool and peel.

Peel three large potatoes and grate. Also grate the peeled chestnuts. Combine ingredients in a bowl.

Drive in an egg, add a clove of minced garlic, 2 tbsp. l. flour, salt and chopped green dill.

Mix everything well. Fry potato pancakes in hot vegetable oil. Serve with sour cream.

This dish differs from the usual pancakes by its original slightly nutty taste.

Now you know how to cook chestnuts in different ways. Each recipe presented is worthy of your attention. Prepare an original dish of edible chestnuts for your family and friends.

Secrets of cooking chestnuts - video