Cooking Kabocha for the First Time – Helpful, Eye-opening Experience
Trying to break through the thick skin of a squash for the first time, I couldn’t avoid using the intimidating cleaver. Not only did I get a little practice using this kitchen tool, I was rewarded with the sweet taste of kabocha in the completed dish.
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
Reading that pumpkin seeds are good for bone health, I decided to look for a recipe that used pumpkin. In addition, since it’s September now, this vegetable is in season!
Inspiring Recipe
I saw many recipes for pumpkin desserts, which I love, but was on a mission to find a savory recipe for a main dish. What I found was Braised Pork Ribs with Pumpkin, from a blog, Christine’s Recipes. Not only was this simple recipe intriguing, the two cookbooks that the author released, both written in Chinese and English, were as well.
First Try
When I went to the store to buy the first ingredient, I found that the available pumpkins were much larger than I needed, so I decided on getting kabocha, also known as Japanese Squash or Japanese Pumpkin, instead. (I remember enjoying the taste of it when I had it as tempura awhile back.) Not only was the one I chose the perfect weight, it was organic as well.
With the purchase of pork ribs also completed, I was ready to locate the rest of the ingredients at home.
Ingredients to Use
With a little over 2 1/2 times the recipe in kabocha and ribs, I planned some modifications for the ingredients as follows:
Cooking
- Oil to grease the wok
- 1 tablespoon + 2 1/8 teaspoons of black bean garlic sauce
Marinade
- 1 tablespoon + 2 1/8 teaspoons of soy sauce* (See below for what I actually used.)
- 1 1/4 teaspoon of sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of corn starch
- 1 1/4 teaspoons of Shaoxing wine
Thickener
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of soy sauce
- 1 1/4 teaspoons of sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of corn starch
- 5 tablespoons of water
- 1/8 teaspoon of sesame oil
For the remaining ingredients, I kept them as is.
Steps to Prepare
I had started working on this meal later than I had hoped, so I tried to save time where I could and maybe dinner would begin at a decent time.
In step 1, I left the ribs in the original length instead of cutting them into 1 1/2 inches long. Also, after figuring out that two of my knives didn’t cut through the kabocha and I had to use a cleaver, I chose to leave the skin on and focus on cutting this squash into chunks.
For step 2, a wok was what I had to cook everything in. While simmering the ribs, I had to increase the power to medium low from low to keep the liquid bubbling for 30 minutes. Also, instead of testing the doneness of the ribs by poking at them with a chopstick, I confirmed by using the edge of a wok spatula to cut through some of the meat, since I was already using this utensil.
After adding the kabocha, I increased the power of the stove to medium high for 15 minutes and then to high for another 10 minutes in order to soften the chunks. By the time the kabocha was soft enough, more than a third of the water was still left in the wok. However, I just poured in the thickening liquid and cooked everything for another five minutes.
* After I poured in the first tablespoon of soy sauce into the ribs, I thought I had switched to the teaspoon and proceeded to fill the spoon. Luckily, I realized the mistake in time and only ended up with two tablespoons of soy sauce in the marinade.
Time to Eat
Here’s the bowl of braised pork ribs with kabocha for dinner:
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1️⃣1️⃣* | 🤏🤏 | 💰💰 | 🙂 |
The ribs had a nice light flavor from the black bean garlic sauce though the meat could be a little bit softer. As for the kabocha, it had a delicate sweet taste, but was a little bit stickier than I had preferred.
Second Try
For the second attempt, my goal was to improve the texture of the dish.
Ingredients to Use
The amount for each of the ingredients was the same as what I had planned for the first try.
Steps to Prepare
In terms of the process I made a few tweaks to step 2.
When it was time to simmer the ribs, I did it for 1 hour and 15 minutes, 15 minutes longer than the first time. At the end of the simmering time, I was able to insert a chopstick easily into the meat.
As for the kabocha, I cooked it for 20 minutes on medium high power, five minutes less than originally.
Lastly, before I poured in the thickener, I removed three cups of liquid from the wok.
Time to Eat
With the chopstick test passing for the ribs, I couldn’t wait to see if all my goals were met for this batch!
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1️⃣1️⃣* | 🤏🤏 | 💰💰 | 😋 |
The ribs were soft and kabocha not as sticky. Also, the thickened sauce made the dish smoother and more flavorful. Yummy!
Bonus
This rib recipe came with a note on how to prepare the seeds, so I tried it out after accumulating the seeds from both portions of the kabocha.
Ingredients to Use
Aside from using seeds and grease as noted in the recipe, I added salt for serving.
Steps to Prepare
For the instructions, I replicated what was noted, including greasing the pan with oil and baking the seeds for 20 minutes.
Time to Eat
After baking the seeds for 20 minutes, they were a little bland and hard to crack, so I put the pan back in the oven for 10 more minutes.
When the seeds were removed from the oven the second time around, I transferred some to a container and added salt before serving.
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the attempt:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3️⃣* | 🤏 | 💰 | 🤔 |
After the extra time in the oven, the kabocha seeds came out drier and were easier to crack. Although the salt sprinkles made them more appetizing, removing the outer shell before eating each seed required too much effort for me.
Since I didn’t cook with pumpkin as listed on the original recipe, I will try the following next time:
Continuous Improvement
- Duplicate the mouth-watering results of the pork rib dish with pumpkin to take advantage of the different nutrient profile.
- Dry the pumpkin seeds outside the refrigerator overnight to shorten the bake time.
Cooking with kabocha reminded me of the following lesson for my younger self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Find ways to use the most of an investment as possible.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the Braised Pork Ribs with Pumpkin recipe from a blog called Christine’s Recipes?
- Learn more about kabocha squash, e.g., from WebMD website’s article, Are There Health Benefits of Kabocha Squash?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)