After 9 years in her house, a crop of squash plants mysteriously appeared in my stepmother’s front yard this summer. My brother very kindly brought over 3 large ones to my house recently, and left me wondering what to do with them.
A quick internet search found an interesting recipe for a sweet and spicy preparation — it was delicious! I was nervous that my husband would find it too sweet (we don’t normally eat sweetened squash — unusual for Americans, I know!), but he felt the 
sweet was balanced by the fire from the chile powder. The kids loved it too, though next time I will need to go a little lighter on the chile powder for my 6-year old.
I thought it was best mixed together in a kind of pilaf with wild rice and steamed kale — yum! — but the kids preferred to eat each item separately.
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Sweet and spicy roasted kabocha squash
1/2 small to medium sized kabocha squash
1 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. toasted sesame oil3 Tbs. light brown, natural cane, or muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper or ground chipolte pepper (I used chipolte)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (I think freshly grated nutmeg using a microplaner is amazing with squash!)
1/4 tsp. sea salt
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
De-seed and cut the squash into large cubes.
In a glass baking dish, stir together the soy sauce and sesame oil, coating the bottom and sides. Add in the rest of the spices and blend. Add the squash cubes and toss to coat thoroughly.
Bake for about 15 minutes, stir and toss to recoat the cubes, then continue baking for about 15 minutes or until the squash cubes are tender and fragrant. Serve hot or at room temp.
