I don’t know about you, but I have been hearing about this Kabocha squash for what seems like forever. I swear every blogger on the planet is obsessed with this squash. I’ve wanted to try it for sometime now but my grocery store here in town never has it. A couple days ago I ventured to a health food store (which is about 30 minutes away) and wouldn’t ya know…they had a kabocha squash.
Kabocha is an Asian winter squash. Why it was in the health foods store and not my every day grocer is beyond me (Are they healthier?), Anyway, I obviously picked one up. They look similar to a small pumpkin except green…almost like an acorn squash but not as defined (if that makes sense).
I looked up a couple recipes and it seems the best way to cook them is to roast in the oven. before any cooking, I had to cut that bad boy open. I’ve had a little experience cutting raw squash in the past (spaghetti squash, butternut) and let me tell you, it is difficult. Before I attempted to cut this open I sharpened my knives…which I’m sure are now dull again.
I cut the squash down the middle..actually, I didn’t my husband did with a meat cleaver. I tried though I swear!
There’s got to be a way to cook the squash first, then cut it right? That works with spaghetti squash but I guess in this case you might need all the guts out first….it’s probably worth trying! Next, I scraped out all the seeds.
I wish I was done cutting…but this was only the beginning! Next, I cut that mother in small slices which was a bit of a pain…not gonna lie.
My husband finished cutting the squash hence the random chunks (he violently used a meat cleaver). I tried to explain to him that they needed to be perfect small slices and he proceeded to ignore me and butcher the squash.
Finally it was time to bake those babies. I turned the oven to 400 and drizzled some coconut oil on squash. I cooked them for about 35 minutes tossing them a couple times while they were baking. I actually split the slices up onto two cookies sheets just to make sure they were getting cooked evenly. I have a tendency to throw everything on one cookie sheet and several pieces get fried while others are raw..oops.
We had our squash with some brussels sprouts and chicken. Great dinner!
That last picture is a bit of a closeup..sorry.
Okay, so what did I think? Was it all that it was cracked up to be? To be fair to kabocha squash, I’m not a professional chef so there is a good chance I did not do it justice. Then again everyone else in the world seems to be cooking it the same way or eating it for breakfast or making ice cream with it so I think I came close enough?
I thought it was good. Descriptive I know. Just good though..not mind blowing…not gross…just good. I honestly haven’t found a squash yet that makes me gag so you can add this one to the list of bazillions.
It reminded me of pumpkin…maybe sweet potato too? It was a different texture (thicker maybe?) than some other squashes like pumpkin for example. The part I actually really liked was eating the skin. The flesh was soft and sweet then the skin added a little bit of a crunchy texture. Can you eat the skin of other squashes? If so, I’m gonna start trying that.
So, kabocha was good but I don’t think I’m going to make 30 minute trips to the health food store to buy it on a regular basis. Cutting that thing up was not really worth the hassle.
Have you tried kabocha squash? Are you a squash lover? Like I said, I like every squash I’ve tried. My husband doesn’t really love yellow squash and he sort of tolerates spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash is awesome. Perfect for low carb lovers.
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