A pumpkin dish

This pumpkin dish has been one of my favorite, almost routine and pretty Japanese stuff.

Ingredients are

- 1/2 pumpkin

- 2-3 carrots

- some dried kelp (こんぶ)

- couple of pieces of dry mushroom (しいたけ)

- two large spoonful of soy source

- two large spoonful of honey (or sugar)

First sork こんぶ & しいたけ in the water.

Dise the pumpkin and carrots into the size you want them to be.

Through all above and cook for around 15 min, and will be ready to be served.

In usual Japanese houses nowadays, people would use chemically synthesized fish and sea weed extract. Since I do not consume any meat or fish, I use こんぶ & しいたけ instead.

Once I spend a couple of days at 永平寺 (Eiheiji), a Zen temple. That was fun. People in strict zen temples do not consume meat or fish. Thus, they have invented a good variety of vegetarian recipes in throughout their history. Meals there were inspiring for my later life, too. For people who are interested, you can also find couple of books about the temple's recipes, like below. Vegetarians who have run out of their spring of ideas may find a rest in these books, too.

- "永平寺の精進料理 七六〇年受け継がれた健康の智慧を家庭でいただく"
- "永平寺の心と精進料理 "