Autumn is here – and with it the edible chestnuts, sweet chestnuts, or “spisekastanier” in danish.
My plan for the wonderful tea-ceremony, I was invited to last weekend, was to make sweets entirely out of chestnuts collected in nature – there are a few trees around. But there were´nt so many, so I had to rely on the vegetable market at Torvehallerne, Copenhagen. 800 gr.
Here a closeup. The plate is japanese “Oribe” deisgn, green and brown and white, in the shape of a fan. The teabowl is in the same colours, with a cross shaped pattern in the bottom. The tea is matcha from Koyama-en, Uji, Japan.
This one is not too pretty – just to show the red bean paste in the middle, which is my invention compared to the original recipe (no filling). But how original is that again… red bean paste in japanese sweets ; )
Best autumn regards, Ulla
PS. You want the recipe? Cut the chestnuts in the top end, cook them in water for about 30 min. Take the soft part out with a spoon. Mix this with 20% of its own weight with sugar, fx 500 gr chestnut, 100 gr sugar (I used Sukrin Gold). Divide in portions of 50 gr, make round (or 30 gr + 20 gr red bean paste for filling). Wrap a linen cloth around each, twist, open – so you can see the pattern of the cloth on the surface.
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