What's Left in The Fridge?

I do my big shop fortnightly mid-week so am now scraping the bottom of the barrel to find things to cook for dinner! Thanks to the St Albans Vege Coop though I still had some pumpkin left, so was able to make some Kabocha no Nidsuke: Simmered Pumpkin, with Tori no Teriyaki: Chicken Teriyaki, served with rice and miso soup.

(Feeds 2-3 people with enough miso soup for seconds):

Kabocha no Nidsuke: Simmered Pumpkin

1/2 a small pumpkin/ squash (approx 600g)
3/4 t or 1 sachet of instant dashi stock
2 T soy sauce
1 T sugar
1 T mirin 

Chop the pumpkin into wedges and use your vege peeler to peel a thin slice from the edges and corners (mentori), this makes it look nice and helps stop the pumpkin falling apart when you simmer it. Leave the skin on- you can eat the skin of some varieties.
Arrange the pieces in a saucepan and put in enough water just to cover, add the soy sauce sugar and mirin.
Bring to the boil and then turn to low and simmer until tender.
Garnish with sesame seeds or bonito flakes (katsuobushi).

Tori no Teriyaki: Chicken Teriyaki

2 chicken thigh fillets
4 T Japanese soy sauce
1 clove garlic crushed
1/2 t freshly grated ginger
1 T mirin
1 T sake or ryorishu (Japanese cooking wine)

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces or strips, mix together all other ingredients and add to chicken. Leave to marinate for a few hours or overnight.
reserving the liquid, cook in a frying pan or wok on high heat. Turn heat down to low once cooked through and add the remaining liquid and stir through.

You can leave out the ginger if you don't have it, it's still yummy! And you can use other parts of chicken or chicken legs/ pieces too.

Garnish with sesame seeds and steamed veges, shredded cabbage or salad, and serve with rice and miso soup.

Miso Shiru: Miso Soup

4 C water
2-3 T miso paste (I used shiro miso)
1 sachet instant dashi stock
1 T wakame

Bring the water to the boil and then turn to low, add a sachet of instant dashi.
Using a sieve and spoon, or ladle and spoon, stir and dissolve the miso paste in the hot water (put more or less in depending on what you like). Do not let the soup boil as it will alter the flavour of the miso.
Add the dried wakame and turn off the gas.
Other things you can add are: spinach, tofu, spring onion, daikon radish, aburage, cabbage, clams or any combination of these.