Yes! I did it again. Ice cream. Well, since my last ice cream post, l’ve discovered that people are much more excited to read about ice cream recipes than various gourd curry recipes…  Dessert bloggers get all the love. So, today I bring you a Japanese squash dessert!

I found kabocha at my local farmers market, but I think you can easily find it in the states too. Kabocha is a type of winter squash. It’s sometimes called a Japanese Pumpkin. It’s fairly sweet, which means less added sugar and more winning.

The recipe:

• 1 ½ cups coconut milk
• 1 ½ cup cooked and peeled kabocha
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp homemade vanilla extract *
• ¼ tsp ginger
• ¼ tsp fresh grated nutmeg
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cardamom
• ¼ tsp clove
• Pinch of salt

Toss everything into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Taste this to make sure the spices are to your liking. You can add more spices if you would prefer a stronger taste. Then pour everything into an ice cream maker. Follow manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can put this in a bowl in the freezer and stir every 10 minutes until its frozen.

*The 2 tbsp of homemade vanilla extract is to keep the ice cream from turning into an ice block if you’re planning to store the rest in the freezer. If you’re sharing with friends and not planning on freezing this, 1 tsp is fine.

I will now describe my thought process for dairy-free miso caramel sauce: Hmm. Kabocha dessert. Kabocha pudding? Nah. Kabocha ice cream! Pumpkin Pie spices? Caramel sauce would be nice. I could make that dairy-free with coconut milk. I really like salted caramel. What kind of salt would I use? I have a smoked sea salt. That could be good. OMG! MISO! I will salt this caramel sauce with miso, like a boss! A Japanese boss! This is a really good idea.

The recipe:

• ½ cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup Okinawan brown sugar (you can use sucanat, or organic cane sugar)
• 1 ½ tsp miso

Put the coconut milk and sugar in a pot (it will bubble up, so use a pot, not a skillet), bring to a boil and whisk for about 10 minutes until it has reduced by half. Turn off heat, let cool for 5 minutes, then whisk in vanilla and miso. I think the Okinawan brown sugar contributes a molasses type of flavor. If you don’t care for the rich molasses taste, I would use organic cane sugar instead.

Kapha- use honey in the ice cream and skip the caramel sauce (gomennasai).