Portuguese Roasted Chestnuts

Hi.
Recently, a Portuguese Menu reader asked how I roast chestnuts.
I buy roasted chestnuts from street sellers, like in the picture above.
They use a special pan with small holes in the bottom. They stab the chestnuts, add salt and put it to roast, around 20 minutes.
A curious fact about Portuguese roasted chesnuts bought from street sellers:
Sellers normally make packets to sell the chestnuts using newspapers or phone books. You can buy one of this packets with a dozen chestnuts or half dozen. One dozen can cost 1.50 or 2.00 Euros, depending where you buy them.
I never tried using the oven to roast chestnuts. The main reason is because my oven is electric, if I had a barbecue I would sure roast some chestnuts there.

At home, I do like this:

~ 500 gr of medium size chestnuts
~ Water, just enough to cover
~ 2 tablespoons of sugar
~ 1 tablespoon of Aniz Herbs - Erva Doce

Wash the chestnuts well. Stab them, a small cut is enough.
Put the chestnuts in a pan, cover with water, add the sugar and herbs. Put the pan cooking in medium stove and mix it once in a while.
After 20/30 minutes cooking they should be ready. Remove the water and serve while they´re hot.
Bom Apetite!

Picture: By Rufino