Kabocha And Natto Maki

Song:  Long Train Running

Group:  Doobie Brothers

This supper had turned out much better than did the disaster of the last article.

Kabocha is in the squash family.

However...

the rind on this vegetable is as tough as a Rino's hide.

This is an extremely dangerous vegetable to cut through with any ceramic knife!

As all of my mother's knives are ceramic...

I first sawed with the bread knife to start the cut...

and I then had to make certain I had placed the straight ceramic knife in the notch...

and I then had to put one hand on the sharp end of the knife...

and one on the handle.

I then applied my body weight to the knife...

and I gently rocked the knife so it would cut through the rind.

Never...never...

apply any lateral pressure on a ceramic knife...

or apply any percussive force to it.

It will shatter like glass.

The resulting shards could injure you in a quick and very harmful manner.

I will be ordering my mother a very large steel cleaver to handle

such tough kitchen tasks in the future.

Scoop out the seeds.

Then cut the Kabocha into wedges.

Place them into a pot.

Now for the recipe for the broth...

and the directions for cooking the Kabocha.

1 medium sized Kabocha

(the one I had bought is a large...

and so, I had doubled this recipe).

Hondashi (Bonito soup stock) - 1 Tbs

Water - 400 cc

Soy Sauce - 4 Tbs

Sake - 4 Tbs

Sugar - 4 Tbs

Mirin - 4 Tbs

Mix thoroughly in a bowl.

Pour over the Kabocha in the pot...and cook covered.

(ensure the broth covers the Kabocha completely)

Bring the pot to a high boil momentarily...

then bring down to a low boil to simmer for 20 - 40 minutes

(Test the texture every 10 or so minutes.

A chopstick should penetrate the rind without too much resistance.

When you bite into it...it should have a slight crunch when biting the skin of the rind...

and everything else should be soft, but it should not be mushy).

This Kabocha had taken 40 minutes to cook.

You must realize that as we live over 1 mile in altitude...

any boiling cooking times will be more than at sea level

(approximately one minute longer for every 1,000 ft in elevation).

The ingredients for Natto Maki (plus the rice).

Natto is a fermented soy bean food.

It usually comes with a sauce and mustard packet.

The other ingredient is roasted and seasoned seaweed.

Thoroughly mix the Natto.

It should have a slimy consistency.

Some people complain that Natto has an unbearable smell to it.

To me...

it smells and tastes slightly like roasted coffee beans.

I love Natto.

I have been eating it since I was a child.

Add the mixed Natto to a bowl of rice...

and thoroughly mix.

Then simply place a good amount of the Natto and rice mixture onto a sheet of Nori.

And then roll it so it forms a long roll.

After completing the rolls...

the Natto maki is completed.

This is how the Kobocha looks when it is done cooking.

My mother exclaiming how good the Kabocha was.

We also had miso soup to complete our meal.

Kabocha is a very nutritious vegetable to eat.

It is also very delicious when sliced into thin slivers...and fire roasted.

It should be a dark yellow inside.

When buying one...

thump it on its rind.

It should be almost rock hard.

The kabocha in this dish is infused with the broth...

and the delicious taste lingers on the tongue as it helps flavor the whole meal.

Again...

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MAKE A KOBOCHA DISH

WITHOUT THE CORRECT IMPLEMENTS TO CUT THROUGH THE RIND.

I had to be very careful as I cut the kabocha...

and I have handled knives most of my life.

A ceramic knife must be thought of as a glass knife.

It will easily shatter as would a knife made of glass.

It is extremely dangerous to cut through a kobocha with any ceramic knife.

I am going to equip my mother's kitchen 

with a large, thick, and heavy, steel cleaver...(or sword  :)

just for this very tough veggie.