Kabocha no Nimono

I was looking for Japanese kabocha recipes and the one that I kept coming across was kabocha no nimono. Kabocha is also known as a Japanese pumpkin and nimono is to simmer so kabocha no nimono is simmered pumpkin. The pumkin is simmered in dashi stock or water with sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. Mirin is a sweet cooking sake. So the pumpkin is simmered in a sweet and salty liquid. It sounded pretty interesting. I also noted that the pumpkin was simmered with some of the skin still on. I learned that the skin is left of to help the pieces of pumpkin to retain their shape when they are simmered. Once the pumpkin has been simmered it is nice a soft and the skin can be easily removed or eaten. I garnished the simmered pumpkin with green onion and some red pepper that needed to be finished. Overall it was a pretty tasty and easy if a bit time consuming side dish.

Ingredients:
1/4 kabocha (seeded and cut into bite sized pieces)
1 cup dashi (or water)
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 green onion (sliced)

Directions:
1. Put every thing into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 10-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the pieces.
3. Garnish with the green onion.