Recipe: Perfect Pumpkin “kinton,� Mashed Pumpkin with Sweetened Chestnuts

Delicious, fresh and tasty.

Pumpkin “kinton,� Mashed Pumpkin with Sweetened Chestnuts. Cut the pumpkin into bite-sized pieces and steam them. Add sugar and mirin to the mashed pumpkin and stir it while heating. Kuri Kinton or Candied Chestnuts and Sweet Potatoes are a special Japanese New Year dish, which symbolizes economic fortune and wealth.

Pumpkin “kinton,� Mashed Pumpkin with Sweetened Chestnuts To make this Kuri Kinton, kuri (chestnuts) that have been pre-made (cooked and sweetened) are used. You can buy them in a little jar at Japanese/Asian. It is a sweetened and mashed Japanese sweet potato with sweet chestnuts. You can cook Pumpkin “kinton,� Mashed Pumpkin with Sweetened Chestnuts using 4 ingredients and 3 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Pumpkin “kinton,� Mashed Pumpkin with Sweetened Chestnuts

  1. It's 200 g of pumpkin.
  2. Prepare 8 of chestnuts cooked in sugar syrup.
  3. Prepare 2 tsp. of sugar.
  4. It's 2 tsp. of “mirin,� sweet rice wine for cooking.

The characters for kinton literally mean 'group of gold', so with the golden color of this sweet, it represents a wish for wealth and financial success. However, it is more interpreted as meaning for a life without suffering. Kuri Kinton is a sweet and delicious dish made of sweetened chestnuts and pureed sweet potato and is a part of the traditional New Year's food in Japan! Kuri kinton is a sweeter osechi ryori dish, made by combining mashed satsuma imo (Japanese sweet potatoes) with candied chestnuts.

Pumpkin “kinton,� Mashed Pumpkin with Sweetened Chestnuts step by step

  1. Cut the pumpkin into bite-sized pieces and steam them. Remove the skin and mash..
  2. Add sugar and mirin to the mashed pumpkin and stir it while heating..
  3. Place on two chestnuts per serving. *You can replace sugar with honey (IMPORTANT: Never give honey or foods that include honey to infants under 1 year old to reduce the risk of infant botulism).

Once made, the dish has a distinct golden yellow colour, which symbolises wealth, prosperity, and good luck. This makes kuri kinton a particularly important New. For those with a sweet tooth, this dessert is perfect for you! The sweet, creamy and sticky texture of the sweetened chestnuts and sweet potato is similar to… Keep stirring to avoid mixture from sticking to the bottom. Turn off the heat, add the chestnuts and cover them with the pureed sweet potato mixture.