While I have fresh chestnuts, I wanted to make more dishes with chestnuts. One of my favorite dessert using chestnuts is sweet red bean soup with chestnuts (栗ぜんざい). Sweet red bean soup is called zenzai (ぜんさい). We commonly eat zenzai with mochi. Today I am making zenzai with chestnuts. It’s pretty simple to make yet it’s so tasty.
I used homemade sweet red bean paste (anko) today but you can use store-bought red bean paste as well.
Let’s make it! I’ll show the step-by-step instructions here but the shorter version of the recipe and the listing of the ingredients are available at the bottom.
- Soak chestnuts in water for a few hours. I usually soak them overnight.
- Cut a cross on the tip of chestnuts. I used a chestnut knife but you can use a regular knife.
3. Cook chestnuts until they are soft to each. I cook them in a pressure cooker for 10 to 15 minutes depending their size.
4. Put sweet red bean paste in a pot.
5. Pour water in the pot.
6. Cook it until it has a thick soup consistency. Stir continuously.
7. Top it with roasted chestnuts.
I love the combination of chestnuts and sweet red bean paste (anko). They are just perfect together. I like to stir in chestnuts in the soup and also top it with more chestnuts. It’s a wonderful fall dessert.
- 1 cup sweet red bean paste
- ½ to 1 cup water
- As much chestnuts as you want
- Soak chestnuts in water for a few hours. I usually soak them overnight.
- Cut a cross on the tip of chestnuts. I used a chestnut knife but you can use a regular knife.
- Cook chestnuts until they are soft to each. I cook them in a pressure cooker for 10 to 15 minutes depending their size.
- Put sweet red bean paste in a pot.
- Pour water in the pot.
- Cook it until it has a thick soup consistency. Stir continuously.
- Top it with roasted chestnuts.
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