Kabocha Pumpkin Hot Pot Recipes

KABOCHA PUMPKIN HOT POT

Steps:

• Place shiitake mushrooms in a large bowl and add 5 cups of water. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 5 hours.
• Strain liquid into a large bowl, reserving both liquid and mushrooms. Trim stems and discard; cut caps in half and set aside. Add soy sauce and mirin to bowl with mushroom liquid; set aside.
• Place kombu on the bottom of a 4 1/2- to 5-quart Japanese clay donabe or cast-iron pot. Top with pumpkin, daikon, taro, carrot, negi, cabbage, shimeji mushrooms, and reserved halved shiitake mushrooms. Add mushroom liquid mixture.
• Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and add noodles; let simmer until noodles are tender, about 10 minutes more. Serve immediately garnished with shichimi togarashi.

KABOCHA SQUASH PIE (JAPANESE PUMPKIN PIE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Stir the graham cracker crumbs together with the flour in a mixing bowl. Mix in the soy butter until the mixture is crumbly. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Pour in the soy milk, and stir to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
• Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. Fit the crust into a 7 inch diameter pie plate. Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom.
• Bake the crust in the preheated oven until pale gold, about 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.
• Pour about 1 inch of water into the bottom of a pan. Place the kabocha into a steamer basket fitted into the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium, cover, and steam the squash until tender and easily pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes. Cool.
• Place the kabocha into a blender or bowl of a food processor, and blend until smooth. Stir the tofu, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the kabocha mixture, and blend until very smooth. Pour into the prepared crust.
• Bake in preheated oven until center is set, about 20 minutes. Do not overbake or the filling will crack.

HOT POT AT HOME

Steps:

• For the pork broth: Fill a 7-quart Dutch oven with 12 cups cold water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, soak the pork bones in cold water in a large bowl, to remove some of the blood, for about 20 minutes or until the water boils. Add the bones to the pot and boil until the water darkens and there's a lot of foam on the surface, about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse the bones and clean the pot of any residue.
• Return the pork bones to the pot and add the carrots, corn, daikon and 16 cups cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the broth is very milky, about 2 1/2 hours. Skim off any dark proteins and fat, then lightly season with salt.
• Transfer the pork broth, along with the bones and other solids, which will continue to flavor the broth, to an 11-inch hot pot pot with a divider. Add the chili oil to one side of the pot. Place the pot on a portable butane burner and bring to a boil over high heat.
• For the components: Meanwhile, arrange the beef, fish, cabbage, spinach, potatoes, pumpkin, eggs, fish tofu and udon noodles on plates or platters, as you like. Set out at least two pairs of chopsticks or tongs and small strainer baskets (these are useful when cooking more fragile ingredients, such as fish, tofu and the like). As for the chopsticks/tongs, let everyone know not to use the same pair for picking up raw and cooked meat and fish.
• For the condiments: Create a "dipping sauce station" with any of the condiments, along with a bunch of small plates and bowls. Each person can mix and match them as they like.
• Once the broth is boiling, start cooking! Let each person cook their own ingredients in the broth (the side with the chili oil is spicier), being mindful not to overcrowd the pot. If the broth reduces too much and you still have raw ingredients left, add some warm water to the pot and bring to a boil. If you like, you can eat the marrow from the pork bones.
• Proteins-Thinly sliced chicken, pork or lamb, mini-pork sausages, low-sodium luncheon meat cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices, shellfish, fish cakes, tofu
• Vegetables-sweet potato, kabocha squash, watercress, bok choy, corn on the cob, lotus root, kale, chile peppers, tomato, bean sprouts, enoki, shiitake or button mushrooms
• Noodles, etc.-ramen noodles, rice noodles, konjac noodle knots, dumplings, rice cakes, dried tofu sticks
• Stir together the Pork Broth, BBQ sauce, sesame paste, oyster sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic and scallions in a small bowl until combined.