Life is a rollercoaster. Sometimes it feels like you’re just climbing and climbing, waiting for the big drop that never comes. Other times, the big drop pops out of nowhere, bringing with it the loudest scream you’ve unleashed in a while.
After months of slowly climbing to the top of the rollercoaster, I’ve finally barreled down the drop. This week I started a new job! It’s a graphic design job in the same industry I was in before, but with a completely different style and mindset.
I took last week off to decompress, to finally get a haircut, and to just do all the things that you put on that “Someday” list that always gets longer and longer. One of the things on that list was roasting kabocha.
It may seem like an odd one, but I’ve already let two or three kabochas overripen on my countertop while life buzzed around me. No more!
Kabocha is an Asian winter squash that’s commonly used in Japanese, Thai, and Korean cooking. I first heard about them from A, my amazing Japanese friend. Like most squashes, it’s packed with iron, potassium and beta carotene. Unlike most squashes, you can eat the skin.
My other Japanese friend, M, inspired the sauce after describing a Kewpie mayo (Japanese mayonnaise) sauce her friend made. M loved it, but wasn’t thrilled with the calories that mayo tends to bring.
Ingredients
- 1 kabocha squash, deseeded and cut into small slices with skin on
- olive oil, for roasting
- salt and pepper, for roasting
- 2-3 tbsp white miso
- 2-3 tbsp plain nonfat yogurt
- 1-2 tsp sriracha, depending on your heat preference
Instructions
Heat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet (or two, depending how big your squash is) with foil.
Lay squash on sheet and drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper over top. Roast for 30-35 minutes.
For the dressing, combine miso and yogurt in a bowl. Stir until miso is dissolved. If you want a thicker sauce, add less yogurt. Add sriracha and stir.
Notes
If you want to mimic the drizzled sauce in the photo, pour it into a small squeeze bottle. Refrigerate any leftover sauce.