I first tried this dish while studying abroad in Nagasaki, Japan. Kabocha, or Japanese green pumpkin, is a traditional ingredient in tempura, which is served as an appetizer, side dish and on noodles or rice. Our familiar orange pumpkins are a nice substitute - to me, they taste exactly the same.

Wrestling with a fresh pumpkin for bite-size pieces can be frustrating, but the result is well worth it. Cut thicker pieces for a more pronounced pumpkin taste. And no, it doesn't need to be pre-cooked.

It's important that the water for the tempura batter is ice-cold; that helps the batter stay crispy after it's fried. Also, don't combine batter ingredients until the oil is fully heated. The batter should be slightly runny.

Panko breadcrumbs are available at Swensen's Markets and Asian Food Market in TwinFalls, and the dipping sauce is sold at Asian Food Market. If you can't make it there, use soy sauce or sweet and sour.

Get creative and substitute other vegetables for the pumpkin. My favorites are sweet potato, green bean and asparagus.

PumpkinTempura

1 small pumpkin

1 1/2 cups ice-cold water

2 cups all-purpose flour or tempura mix

1 egg

2 teaspoons salt

3 cups panko Japanese breadcrumbs

Oil for frying

Tempura dipping sauce

Heat oil in wok on medium high. Cut the pumpkin into bite-size chunks, discarding the innards and the skin.

When oil is hot, mix together flour, salt, water and egg. Don't overmix; the batter should be runny.

Dip pumpkin pieces in tempura batter, then dredge in panko breadcrumbs. Submerge in oil and fry until light golden brown, about 2 minutes.

Serve immediately with tempura dipping sauce on side. Serves 4.