A bit of randomness: I've been obsessed with kabocha pumpkin recently. I made kabocha nimono (simmered pumpkin) the other day and it was delicious!!! I keep buying Kabocha...so many ways you can make it: simmered, roasted with olive oil and salt/pepper, baked or steamed and then mashed with butter and brown sugar on top, steamed plain, or tempura. Ahhh yummmm. I love winter squash :-).

Here is the recipe I used for kabocha nimono:
http://www.japanesecooking101.com/kaboch...in-recipe/
Since I didn't have dashi or sake, I substituted with some chicken stock, a few squirts of fish sauce, and some mirin. Turned out great! If you don't have mirin or sake, that's probably fine. The stock flavor is the most important part.

Just wanted to share because they are in my local grocery stores and on sale at Safeway for $0.99/lb. You should try one! A few tips:

1) Buttercup squash looks very similar to kabocha (and it is often mislabeled as kabocha). You can tell the difference between them because a buttercup squash has what looks like an "outie" bellybutton with a circle of skin outlining the stem. If you know what the bottoms/stems of regular pumpkins look like (i.e. flat), you'll know what I mean as soon as you see it. I haven't tried buttercup squash, but I've heard it does taste similar to kabocha so if you can't find kabocha, I'm sure this tastes great too.

2) The pumpkin is difficult to cut when raw, so either microwave it for 3-4 minutes, or put it in the oven (400 degrees F) for 15-20 min to partially cook it and soften it.

3) Ripe kabocha tends to be a bit sweeter. They are not completely emerald green when ripe. Look for a few orange patches on the skin. The pumpkin should feel heavy for its size and the skin should feel thick. Emerald green ones will probably taste OK too, but I've had better luck when they have some orange/gray splotches.

4) The skin is edible.

So go out and enjoy this wonderful winter squash! It's good for you :-)

I can vouch for butternut squash tasting awesome. Even just steamed with a little black pepper. Yummy.

Interesting. I always find its hard to boil squash such that it keeps its shape, but I'm guessing that's why they keep it at such a slow boil. Also had a bit of an 'aha' moment while watching that. I'd heard of 削り節 before but didn't actually know what it was used for. It's kinda weird knowing vocab for stuff you've never tasted before.

This pumpkin is delicious.... I can definitely recommend tempura-ing it.
When this word came up in Core I smiled a little.

It also makes a good addition to soups.
I used to make miso soup with it when I was in college.. mm good stuff. And cheap!

Here's something for kabocha lovers who are also studying Japanese..! (I assume most anyone reading this far into this post on this forum falls into both categories? )
Cookpad - カボチャってどんな風に食べてますか〜？

just checking... once it's all prepared and everything, you eat the green outer skin too right?

I might have overcooked it... it was like a well done sweet potato. even lightly touching it with my fingers bruised the shape a little. but I wouldn't call it mushy at all.

how do you know how long to cook it?

dtcamero Wrote:just checking... once it's all prepared and everything, you eat the green outer skin too right?

I might have overcooked it... it was like a well done sweet potato. even lightly touching it with my fingers bruised the shape a little. but I wouldn't call it mushy at all.

how do you know how long to cook it?

They get soft but I don't know about sweet potato level..
A chopstick should slide right through it when it's done but it should also hold its shape well enough to be picked up and eaten. The time required depends on the size of the cuts and etc etc so I don't know that there's really an exact time.. but when a chopstick can go through without much resistance it should be good.
Also- cooking them on medium or medium-low heat works better than on high heat.