Recipe: Sweet Simmered Kabocha

I stopped in at Whole Foods to see what they had on sale and saw that Winter Squash was selling for $1.29/lb (although it rang up as 79¢/lb). I bought a nice sized Kabocha Squash (Japanese Pumpkin) since I've had it before in Japanese restaurants and it's so tasty but never cooked it myself. The cooked texture is creamy and starchy almost like a sweet potato, not stringy like a common orange pumpkin. Nice thing about Kabocha is that you can also eat the skin after it's cooked so no need for peeling it..

Here is a recipe courtesy of About.com's Japanese Food Guide, Setsuko Yoshizuka.

Kabocha is commonly simmered in Japan. Kabocha amani (simmered sweet kabocha) is the most popular kabocha dish. It's often served in a Japanese-style meal as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kabocha (1 lb.), seeds removed
• 1 cup water
• 4 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Preparation:

Cut kabocha into about 1 and 1/2 inch cubes. Peel kabocha skin around the edges. Put water, sugar, soy sauce, and kabocha in a medium pot. Heat on high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low. Put a drop-lid or a sheet of aluminium foil on kabocha and cover with lid. Simmer kabocha for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid is almost gone.
*Makes 4 servings