Tasty pumpkin (Kabocha no nimono)

"Nimono" is the word for food that is boiled and seasoned. Kabocha is a Japanese pumpkin. Kansai people call it “kabocha no taitan”. Pumpkins have lots of vitamins and dietary fibers. You can eat many pumpkins this way because it is very soft and sweet.

Yield: 2-4 servings
Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin)
  

Spices

• 2 tsp hondash
• 3 tbsp sugar
  
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp sake
  

Preparation

1. Remove the seeds from the pumpkin with spoon and cut pumpkin into 2" pieces
   
2. Round the corners of the pumpkin pieces (so they retain their shape while boiling for a long time) and peel half the skin off (see picture)
   
3. Boil 2 1/2 cups water in a sauce pan, then add pumpkin and hondashi, and boil, covered, for 10 minutes over medium heat
   
4. Add sugar, then place a small lid directly on the pumpkin (to be boiled in a pot), then cook for 5 minutes over medium heat
5. Add soy sauce, mirin, and sake, then cover with the small lid and cook for 10 minutes over low heat
6. Remove pan from heat and let pumpkins get cool (for taste), then serve