Chestnut Seaweed Rice

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 93 20:02:14 BST
From: Dennis Furey <df@doc.imperial.ac.uk>
Subject: grain dish recipes


1/2 cup short grain brown rice (do not substitute)
1/4 cup sweet brown rice (a.k.a. glutinous brown rice)
8 dried chestnuts
2-3 tbs hijiki seaweed
1 7/8 cups water

Soak the chestnuts at least eight hours but preferably over night for a sweeter
flavor. Don't throw away the soaking water. Organic chestnuts are preferable.

Using a big enough bowl to allow for expansion by up to a factor of five, soak
the hijiki for at least an hour. Longer makes no difference. (Arame can be
substituted, but then use more as it doesn't expand.) Retain the soaking
water, but leave out any sandy stuff that accumulates at the bottom of the
bowl.

Mix the brown rice and sweet rice, and wash and drain them a few times until
the water clears. (Other kinds of rice shouldn't be used in this recipe because
the pressure cooking would probably beat them up too much.)

Use the soaking water from the chestnuts and the hijiki, and sufficient
additional water to make 1 7/8 cups. Put it in a pressure cooker with the rice.

Cut the hijiki into pieces of about a centimeter, and layer it on top of the
rice in the pressure cooker.

Arrange the chestnuts symmetrically on top of the hijiki.

Pressure cook for 45 minutes. (See notes on pressure cooking grains.) Wisk it
around a little with a wooden spoon when it's done. If it sticks to the bottom,
let it sit for a few minutes and it will be easier to take out. The optimum
result is of a chewy, cohesive consistency, but don't be put off if you think
sticky rice makes you gag: in this dish it's a virtue.