Kabocha Salad

October 26: National Pumpkin Day

Our local library’s culinary club once had a potluck theme about pumpkins. Members brought in a variety of sweet and savory dishes—pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin soup, pumpkin hummus….. But Islander’s friend, Yukiko H., brought in something slightly different than the usual pumpkin recipes. Her contribution was a salad/side dish made out of Japanese pumpkin, a squash called kabocha. It was kind of sweet and savory at the same time and it was Islander’s favorite of all the other potluck pumpkin dishes. Thankfully, Yukiko shared her recipe with us and we are happy to feature her kabocha salad recipe on our blog for National Pumpkin Day.

Recipe

(From Yukiko H.)

Ingredients

  • Small kabocha squash, cooked until tender
  • ¼ cup onion
  • 1 ½ tablespoon of white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • black pepper to taste
  • 1-2 slices of bacon
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil

Directions

Cut the kabocha squash into wedges or large chunks. Scoop out the seeds. Peel off the skin. Cook by baking (first toss in a little cooking oil, spread on a baking sheet and heat in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 30-40 minutes) OR boiling (simmer in a pot of boiling water for 20-30 minutes until soft, then drain). Place in a bowl and mash a little bit, leaving some chunky pieces.

In a large bowl, grate the onion and sprinkle a little salt to get rid of its sharpness. Add vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in the same bowl and mix them well.

Chop the bacon roughly. Fry the bacon pieces in the canola oil until they become crispy. Put them in the bowl, including the grease, in the onion mixture. Toss in the kabocha pieces. Dish out and serve warm.

Notes

  • Arigato (thank you) for sharing your recipe for our blog, Yukiko!
  • Don’t forget to check out all of our other pumpkin recipes under the Theme Menus tab.