晩ご飯 :: かぼちゃ栗ご飯

Took a stroll around the at the wet market and bought some greens and all to do an easy dinner. I didn't feel like messing up the kitchen and throw grease all over, then having to mop like crazy later on. I usually tend to prefer using the oven to grill rather than searing stuff in the pan. It's less messy. Hurhurhur.

Bussels sprouts are awesome, and winter sprouts are the sweetest. What I don't fancy, is charred sprouts. In fact, I don't like 'charred' anything. Slightly brown, yes, but not charred. Yes, that means I don't quite take to fancy things on the open grill or at a barbecue. Since there were good quality Brussels sprouts at the market, I bought them. Oven-grilled Brussels sprouts finished with a drizzle of sea salt, honey and tahini. These are a great accompaniment to carbs. #ImpieCooks2018

Found the cutest tiny kabocha at the vegetables stall. Literally squealed in delight. The chestnuts looked fine too. Perfect! I love pumpkin as an ingredient for rice, salads and whatever. It's got such a lovely bite.

It's always a good time to cook kabocha kuri gohan (かぼちゃ栗ご飯). Boiled up stock with kombu, sake and mirin for the stock. You could also use dashi, but that's a bit light if you don’t do a secondary boil or add dried anchovies and mushrooms. Used Japanese brown rice for this; I stock quite a few kinds of rice at home. Upon serving, topping it with furikake is optional. Mmmmm, I love that natural sweetness of pumpkin and chestnuts.

The man generally doesn't mind vegetarian food. But he fancied a bit of meat that night. Chicken then. There're always easy decent ones at the market. While I'm not into chicken and even avoid handling it, I can do it if necessary. Sorted out the extra salt and protein with oven-grilled chicken thighs. Marinated the meat in a mix of honey, balsamic vinegar, soy and fish sauce, a ton of garlic, splash of port, all sorts of pepper and herbs, then plonked it in the oven for about 20 minutes. If you're okay with chicken, you'll like this combination. The juicy thighs and gravy lent the rice loads of oomph and chomp. It was sufficiently savory, and needless to say, everything counted for a happy meal.