Surely many have heard that in addition to the Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris is the numerous street vendors of roasted chestnuts. And indeed, right on the sidewalks are miniature, and sometimes not very miniature roasters, on which this simple meal is prepared.
After trying it, many tourists ask themselves the question: “How to fry chestnuts at home? And how feasible is this? ” It really can be easily reproduced in your own kitchen, having a gas or electric stove and a baking sheet or pan.
How to roast chestnuts at home?
Before starting to describe the process itself, let's talk about where to get the raw materials for it. The fact is that the fruits of horse chestnut growing in almost all regions of our country, except for the very Far North, are not suitable for food. Yes, they are very beautiful - varnish brown roundish, but they taste very bitter.
What kind of chestnuts can I roast?
To do this, you need to go to the market or to the supermarket and purchase a completely different variety - the edible
fruits of the chestnut tree. They even differ in appearance from horseback - much smaller, darker in color and one side of them is necessarily flat. Speaking strictly in a scientific way, they are not even chestnuts, since the tree on which they grow belongs to the beech family, but we will not go into botanical details now, since we need to eat them, and not classify them.
How to fry chestnuts in a pan or on a baking sheet?
Before proceeding with the actual preparation of the dish, the fruits must be immersed in water. Besides the fact that dirt will be washed off from them, you can also discard damaged chestnuts - they will just pop up. They need to be thrown away, and the remaining ones should be dried and chopped with a fork or cut with a knife. If this is not done, then in the process of preparation the water, which is saturated with the fruits, boils and breaks the shell. That is, you get a series of miniature explosions - a kind of mini-cannonade in your kitchen, similar to that that happens when frying popcorn. But corn grains are much smaller than chestnuts, so it is better not to bring them to this state.
Another trick related to how to roast chestnuts at home is that the fruits laid on a baking sheet or pan must be covered with wet wipes. This will prevent them from drying out excessively during cooking and becoming hard. They will be fried for about half an hour, and during this time you will need to replace dried wipes with fresh ones a couple of times.
If you chose a frying pan as the cookware, then cover it with a lid, because, despite the cuts, some chestnuts can still explode, and you will have to collect them throughout the kitchen. It is not necessary to cover a baking sheet, as these “jumpers” will not succeed in leaving the oven.
The readiness of the fruit is determined simply - press the chestnut with your finger. If it is soft, then it's time to remove it from the fire. Now you know how to roast chestnuts at home and you can feast on your own and treat your loved ones with this dish, even without being in Paris. And do not deny yourself the pleasure of tasting raw fruits - they are also very tasty.