Kabocha no Nimono (Japanese Simmered Kabocha Squash)
Kabocha no nimono (かぼちゃの煮物, simmered kabocha, also called Japanese simmered pumpkin) is a Japanese home dish of kabocha chunks simmered in dashi with sugar, mirin, sake and soy sauce until soft, with part of the skin left on. Kabocha is the Japanese name for the green-skinned winter squash with sweet, floury flesh that Western shops sometimes label Japanese pumpkin. You pack the pieces skin-side down in one layer and simmer them under a drop lid for about 15 minutes in very little liquid. Hands-on time is about 30 minutes, and the pan then needs 15 to 20 minutes off the heat, which is when the pumpkin actually takes up the seasoning. Serves four as a side with rice, grilled fish and miso soup.
Ingredients
- 450 gkabocha pumpkin
- 300 mldashi
- 2 tbspsugar
- 1 tbspmirin
- 1 tbspsake
- 1.5 tbspsoy sauce
Method
- Scoop the seeds and the stringy pulp out of the kabocha with a spoon and rinse the outside; the skin stays on, and after simmering it is soft and good to eat. Put a damp cloth under the cutting board so it does not slip, cut the pumpkin into wedges, then into pieces about 3 to 4 cm across. Keep them all the same size, otherwise the small ones turn to mush before the big ones are done.
- Trim the sharp edges of every piece with a thin slice of the knife (the Japanese name is mentori). Rounded corners do not knock against each other in the pan and crumble. Then peel strips of skin from two or three spots on each piece, so that about half of the green skin stays. The bare patches let heat and seasoning in, and the skin that remains holds the piece together, so do not peel it completely.
- Pick a saucepan in which the pieces just fit in a single layer, about 20 to 21 cm across: in a wide pan the liquid boils away, in a small one the pieces stack and crush each other. Arrange them skin-side down, snug enough that they cannot shift. Pour in the dashi, add the sugar, sake and mirin, and bring to a boil over high heat. From here on do not stir: cooked pumpkin breaks if you move it.
- As soon as the liquid boils, lay a drop lid (otoshibuta) directly on the pumpkin, or a round of parchment paper with a few holes cut in it, and turn the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 10 minutes, with the liquid bubbling gently and touching the lid. The lid keeps the pieces pressed under the liquid, so the seasoning reaches them evenly even though there is very little of it, and nothing bumps around. After 10 minutes the edges should be soft while the pieces still hold their shape.
- Pour the soy sauce in along the edge of the pan, put the lid back and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes more over medium-low heat, until a skewer slides in with almost no resistance and only a few tablespoons of glossy liquid are left. Soy sauce goes in late because long boiling dulls its aroma. If the pan starts to sound dry, take it off the heat at once: the sugar scorches fast, and the pieces finish cooking in the leftover heat.
- Turn off the heat and leave the lid on for 15 to 20 minutes. Kabocha keeps absorbing the liquid as it cools, so it tastes better lukewarm than straight from the pan. Slide a spatula under the pieces to lift them without breaking them, set them in a bowl skin-side up and spoon the remaining liquid around. Serve warm or at room temperature.
FAQ
The usual culprits are uneven pieces, a pan that is too big or too small, stirring, and boiling too hard. Cut the kabocha into 3 to 4 cm pieces of the same size, trim the corners, and lay them skin-side down in one layer in a pan about 20 to 21 cm across. After the first boil keep the heat at medium-low, do not stir, and keep a drop lid on the pumpkin. Start testing with a skewer at around 12 minutes; once it slides in easily, stop, because every extra 5 minutes at a simmer turns floury kabocha softer. If it already collapsed, mash it with a spoon of the liquid and use it as a filling for onigiri or a spread, it will still taste right.
Yes, with honest differences. Hokkaido (red kuri) is the closest: floury, sweet, and the skin is edible, so use the recipe as written with about 450 g. Buttercup squash is also close. Butternut works but is wetter and less starchy, so it ends up softer and sweeter and breaks sooner; peel it fully, cut the pieces about 4 cm and check with a skewer from 8 minutes. Do not use a pumpkin sold for carving, which is watery and stringy and turns to mush in 10 minutes.
Soak a 10 cm piece of kombu (about 5 g) and 2 dried shiitake in 400 ml of cold water for at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge. Warm it slowly and take the kombu out just before it boils, then measure 300 ml for the recipe. The flavor is rounder and sweeter than bonito dashi and suits kabocha well. Sugar, mirin, sake and soy sauce are all plant-based, so nothing else changes. Use the leftover dashi for miso soup the same day.
Keep it in an airtight container with a few spoonfuls of its liquid, in the fridge, for 3 to 4 days. It also freezes for up to a month, though the texture comes back a little softer after thawing, so thaw it in the fridge overnight and do not stir it when you reheat. For a bento, let the pieces cool completely, lift them out without the liquid and pack them in a separate cup; they are meant to be eaten at room temperature.
For about 450 g of kabocha this recipe uses 300 ml of dashi, a shallow bath that comes only about a third of the way up the pieces in a 20 to 21 cm pan. In a wider pan the liquid evaporates before the pumpkin is soft and the sugar burns, so choose a pan that the pieces just fill. Bland centers mean you skipped the 15 to 20 minute rest: the seasoning travels inward while the pumpkin cools in the liquid. Keep the heat at medium-low, with the lid on, and take the pan off as soon as it sounds dry. The same drop-lid method is used for nikujaga.
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