This recipe came from an old lady who was a cook at my parents' house. Her fish curry sauce was the best, too.


- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 cloves garlic
- 30 peppercorns
- 2 cups pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 cup water
Tips and Techniques
Kabocha squash is a substitute for a yellow/orange flesh squash in Thailand that we call ‘fug tong’. The flavor is the same but the texture is very different. Fug tong is more gummy and creamier than Kabocha squash. A good fug tong can be steamed and eaten without any seasoning. If you get a chance to cook in Thailand, try the real thing! For a vegetarian dish, substitute a teaspoon of salt for fish sauce.
You can substitute delicata, acorn, butternut or acorn squash for the Oriental one.
Method
Peel the skin off from the squash. If you are using delicata squash or other thin skin squash, you don't need to peel off the skin. Remove seeds and spongy part of the squash. Cut into pieces that are an inch long and half an inch thick.
Crush peppercorn and garlic in a mortar. In an absence of mortar and pestle, chop garlic and use ground pepper.
Heat up the wok on high heat. Add oil and garlic and pepper. Stir fry until garlic starts to brown. Add the squash. Stir to coat the squash with the garlic and pepper mixture. Add water and stir. It should take about 5 minutes or so for the water to reduce and squash to cook. If you are using delicata, it will cook in no time so add less water. But if you find the squash still hard, add more water. Add fish sauce and sugar while there is still water in the wok. The seasoning will penetrate the squash to give a consistent flavor throughout the pieces. It should be a little bit mushy when done.
Serve with hot rice.















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