Japanese "Kabocha" pumpkin salad カボチャサラダ

I occasionally see Japanese pumpkin which is a type of winter squash in our regualr grocery store and when I see it I buy it. This time, I made pumpkin salad with the squash I brought home. I read the recipe somewhere but I could not find it again when it came time to make the salad so I made it from memory.  It came out quite good and its easy to prepare especially since I used the microwave to cook the squash. Since I had a "Kabocha"-shaped "hashi-oki" 箸置きor chopstick pillow that we bought in Kyoto last year, I used it in this picture to complete the Kabocha theme.

I added cottage cheese on top (I remember this was a part of the recipe I read). I added freshly ground black pepper.

Ingredients :
Kabocha pumpkin, half, innards removed and skin shaved off but leaving some (or you could just leave the skin), cut into a bite sized pieces, microwaved in a silicon container for 3-4 minutes or until a bamboo skewer went through easily.
Salt and pepper for seasoning while it is cooling.

For dressing:
Mayonnaise 2tbs
Greek yogurt 2tbs (my wife makes it by straining regular yogurt).
Cottage cheese 2-4 tbs
Soy sauce to taste (optional and our addition)

Directions:
When the pumpkin cooled to room temperature I dressed it with the mayo and greek yogurt (see below). Taste and add salt or soy sauce to taste. I served it with topping of the cottage cheese and freshly grated black pepper (my addition).

This is a really good salad. The natural sweetness of the pumpkin really comes through. We found out it is actually rather filling--a small serving goes a long way for us. Since I microwaved it, it was really easy to make.