Kabocha is one of my favorite Japanese vegetables and I enjoy its nutrients very much in Crocetts and Kabocha stew. However, I would like to know if everyone here has anymore recommendations of recipes that would allow me to enjoy this vegetable even more. Does anyone here know any Kabocha respecies they would like to share?
by EienNatsu66
22 Comments
I love it in those golden curry cubes!
Tempura
Peep and dice some kabocha and microwave until soft. Add mayo, raisins and some quick pickled cucumbers and a squeeze of lemon. Kabocha salad – a nice refreshing side best with karaage.
Tempura.
I’ve also just cubed and baked them with oil and salt.
I grew up eating this https://delishkitchen.tv/recipes/398234786843328944
Pumpkin potage soup (a rich pumpkin soup)
There’s a regional noodle soup from Yamanashi that uses miso and kabocha as the base and it’s pretty popular.
[Houtou](https://www.justonecookbook.com/hoto-noodle-soup-yamanashi/)
Oh heck yeah. I love kabocha and eat it all the time, here are my two favorite recipes to serve with rice:
1: peeled and cubed, put it under some chicken legs on a heat-safe bowl in a steamer in a ring around another small inverted heat-safe bowl. Top the chicken legs with ginger slices, a few halved red dates, and some whites from green onions. Steam for 15 minutes or until chicken is done. If you invert the inverted bowl it’ll be filled with juice from the steaming process, this you can mix with scallion oil and put on top for a great sauce. Look up “steamed chicken and pumpkin” online for some good tutorials!
2. My infamous fake “simmered pork belly,” with all veg and no pork. Peeled and cubed, toss the kabocha into a deep pan with some ginger, lightly browned maitake mushrooms, chopped walnuts, and cubed tofu. The ratio should be about 1/3 tofu, 1/3 to 1/2 kabocha, and the remainder 1/6 to 1/3 mixed mushrooms and chopped walnuts. Add a bit of water or stock to cover the ingredients, dashi, mirin, and soy sauce and simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce reduces to your desired amount (you can add some potato starch to thicken it but I don’t usually). The textures and flavors are very similar together to eating japanese-style simmered pork belly (kakuni) but I get to eat a whole big bowl and that makes me happy. Warning: you will likely toot. Worth it!
I cut mine into cubes and cook in a bit of soup dashi in the bottle and water. Serve when soft, can eat warm or cold!
I enjoy it with my sukiyaki. After, with some additional kabocha in there, add some rice and mix in some sesame oil, egg, and nori. In a korean household, it’d be Juk
I like making a soup from it. Here’s my recipe:
**Ingredients**
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 kabocha squash (about 2.5 lbs), cut in half thru stem
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup milk or cashew cream
1/2 Tbsp olive oil (to finish)
Pepitas, for garnish
**Instructions**
Cut squash in half and bake face down on a cookie sheet with parchment paper for 40 mins at 400° F.
In a pot, heat butter and 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat and cook the onion until soft and brown, about 8 minutes.
Scoop out the squash (orange only) and add to the pot with 2 cups broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Pureé until smooth. Return to the pot.
Add 1 cups milk and stir until combined. Heat on medium heat for 5 mins. Stir in olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Top with pepitas and serve with a hearty bread.
I love mine in hot pot
Hard to beat simmered in dashi with a light splash of soy sauce and mirin
Kabocha cooked in a seaweed dashi with ginger and mirin, plus a little bit of soy sauce and rice vinegar
It can be eaten hot or cold, but I usually eat it cold and have trouble not filling up on squash and ruining my appetite for the rest of the meal.
Kabocha and pork meatballs are a classic combo.
Ground pork, diced water chestnuts, minced ginger, a bit of soy sauce, a dash of white pepper, a decent splash of shaoxing cooking wine, and corn starch (not a slurry, just mixed right in). Shape into golf ball sizes and simmer at the same time as the kabocha in a ginger scallion broth with a little bit of salt for a clean light broth or use miso with some dashi powder and mirin for a more robust broth. I use MSG too. (Asian cook, so I don’t know measurements. Just feel. LOL)
You’ll have a contrast of textured with the soft sweet squash vs the heartier savory meatballs that also have a bit of crunch from the water chestnuts.
Corn starch is great to add to ground meats because it keeps it moist and tender and juicy.
this isn’t japanese food but there’s a vietnamese soup using this veggie called canh bi do. there’s recipes online i’m sure you could find. usually it’s cooked with pork rib bones and it’s delicious 😋
How similar/dissimilar is this to an acorn squash?
I’m a big fan of the roasted kabocha recipe from [Just One Cookbook](https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-roasted-kabocha-squash/). Also super easy to make.
No one has said roast? weird. Chuck it in the oven on a pan by itself, no oil or anything for maybe 2 or 3 hrs at about 150C little lower if it is high sugar to dry it out.
Then either use it for soup or put some fat on it and recook at 180C so it burns a little.
Leave it like that as a simple side serving for most western style dishes, put some honey and sesame on for banchan.
It’s such a low effort high impact vege that I use it mostly a few times a week.
I had an old workplace that did mashed kabocha instead of mashed potato’s. It was pretty much just salt, garlic, and whatever fats you wanted to add.
Super lazy recipe here: steam whatever you want (kabocha, other types of squash, sweet potato, cabbage cut in large chunks, carrots…) – I just add the pieces in a pot with a bit of water and put on the lid.
Then, when it’s soft, add a couple of spoonfuls of [fermented black bean garlic sauce](https://thewoksoflife.com/black-bean-garlic-sauce/) and voilà!
You may also sprinkle some sesame seeds and/or green onions.
Squash lasagna:
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-squash-lasagna-food-lab-recipe
You can make a great cream pasta sauce with it. I always make it in the fall when kabocha is super cheap