お料理（かぼちゃの中華風そぼろ煮）

More Japanese recipes! Today's dish is a Chinese pumpkin, potato, and pork...thing. Wasn't really sure how to translate the Japanese title, so "thing" will simply have to suffice.



Chinese Pumpkin Thing

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 300 g pumpkin
• 250 g potatoes
• 150 g ground pork
• 2 shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp toubanjan (Chinese red chili paste)
• 1 tsp tenmenjan (black Chinese miso)
• 2 stalks scallion
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp salad oil
• Potato starch dissolved in water (as needed)
• Frying oil (as needed)
(A)
• 1 tbsp sake
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• Dash of pepper
(B)
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp sake
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• Dash of pepper

Preparation:

Peel the pumpkin and potatoes and cut each into large chunks. Fry both in the frying oil at 170°C. Cut the shiitake mushrooms into thin strips.

Cook the pork in the salad oil, then add mixture A. Then add the shiitake mushrooms, toubanjan, tenmenjan, garlic, and ginger. Add mixture B and the pumpkin and potatoes, then boil covered for 10 minutes.

Add the dissolved potato starch as needed, then add the scallions, and top with the sesame oil.

***

I'm sure you could use any sort of pumpkin for this as long as it's of the baking variety. I peeled the green skin off with a carrot peeler, but maybe there's a better way to do it? My peeler is pretty new, so it was up to the job, but a duller peeler probably wouldn't have made a dent in the pumpkin. And I as usual left out the mushrooms since they taste like crap. I also recommend this served with or over rice.