Dan Ho Pak Salad (Squash Salad) 단 호박

This is a gorgeous sweet, slightly sticky but very fresh salad dish that appears in the salad bars of Pizza Hut in Korea. I'm not sure I've yet be able to recreate it quite like it is in Korea but each time I get a little closer. I will post a picture soon as I'm about to make it again.

You can eat it straight away but I find that if you leave it overnight its better the next day, and the texture is nice and firm. This is a great summer side dish, but can be eaten at anytime....and is especially good along side pizza!!

This recipe will do as a side dish in a meal for 4 people and uses half a squash. However, as I wouldn't want you to waste the other half, you can easily double everything up and then eat it over a few days.

Ingredients

1/2 Korean Ho Pak squash (don't panic..you can use butternut squash too!)

I have always had to make this with butternut squash in England because of the difficulty with getting Korean squash. I scanned country markets in autumn for various squashes and while finding some pretty weird and wonderful squashes (which in my humble opinion are completely underrated) I never found a ho pak until I moved to London. Now I can get one by driving 15 minutes to New Malden (or New Maldong as it is affectionately known).

1/2 a small red pepper - diced into small pieces

2 spring onions/green onions chopped finely

I prefer not to have too much of the darker green bit of the onion in this recipe though

1 small tin of sweetcorn (approx 100g) drained

You need at least 1 tin but I would have another on standby incase you like more corn - you can pretty much fill your boots with the corn

1 table spoon of golden syrup (or corn syrup - but you probably won't get that in England)

roughly 2 level table spoons of mayonnaise


Directions

• Seed the squash and, leaving the skin on, cut it into thick slices, all of the same size. Steam the squash slices until they are soft BUT not in any way mushy. It still needs to have a firmness. If it goes mushy, the salad will be too soft - if this happens let it chill in the fridge for an extra day before you eat it and it should firm up a bit. 10 minutes steaming will probably be fine.

• Let it cool down and then cut the slices into chunks. If there are any bits of really nobbly skin that you don't think you would be able to eat then this is a good opportunity to cut them off. Put the chunks into a glass bowl.
  

• Put the onions, peppers, corn, mayonnaise, syrup into the bowl on top of the squash chunks. Now mash the mixture with the back of a metal spoon until it is mashed together but still a bit chunky. Too much mashing and it will go too smooth.
  

• Taste it and add more syrup or mayo if needed. Add salt and pepper to taste.