← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 600 g kabocha squash, seeded, peeled in patches, cut into 3 cm chunks
• ½ small cucumber, thinly sliced
• ¼ Red onion, very thinly sliced
• ½ tsp salt, divided
• 3 tbsp Japanese (Kewpie) mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp Cream cheese (optional)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 pinch Black pepper

Method

1. Toss the cucumber and onion with ¼ tsp salt and leave for 10 min, then squeeze out as much water as you can.
2. Steam the kabocha for 10–12 min (or microwave, covered, for 5–6 min) until a skewer slides straight in.
3. Mash the hot kabocha roughly with a fork, leaving some chunks, then let it cool for 10 min.
4. Fold in the mayonnaise, cream cheese, lemon juice, remaining salt and pepper, then the cucumber and onion.
5. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Tips

• Leaving patches of green skin adds colour and keeps the chunks from falling apart.
• Diced ham or raisins are popular additions. Japanese mayo contains egg.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101