In December, a really cool regional Thai restaurant called Foreign Correspondents closed after just over a year of business in Houston.

I had mixed feelings about the restaurant. It was one of those places you just want to like because of all the buzz–the interior was awesomely funky with colorful doodles on the wall and low wooden chairs, but the food seemed to be hit or miss. I went there twice: once on a doomed date where, even though he claimed he was “mostly vegetarian,” we ordered the khao soi (and I picked around the chicken to sample the duo of crispy and soupy noodles).

The second time was when my mom was in town and that was a glory-filled ordering of almost everything I wanted to try. The purple sticky rice was kind of meh and too sweet, the tofu curry was good, the spicy noodles were delicious, but what was really stunning–and what I ordered both times I visited–was the pumpkin stir fry.

Starchy hunks of pumpkin roasted and then sauteed until falling-apart soft and tangled in silky threads of scrambled egg, doused in a savory soy-based sauce. I kept dreaming about until finally a kabocha squash landed in my cart one day and I re-created the recipe the best I could. I’ve recently discovered what a delicious trio oyster, fish and soy sauce are together. So much more depth than just soy sauce. Aside from the roasting of the squash, this stir fry takes about 5 minutes to throw together and I HIGHLY recommend it!

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Kabocha Squash Stir Fry

Ingredients

1 medium kabocha squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon oyster sauce more to taste
2 teaspoons fish sauce more to taste
2 teaspoons soy sauce more to taste
2 eggs beaten
Optional: additional chopped vegetables--broccoli green beans, leafy greens, etc. would all work well!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Peel and chop the squash into 1-inch cubes. Toss in olive oil, salt lightly, and bake for 40 minutes, stirring once or twice, until squash is tender and browned. (You can do this step several days before making the stir fry.)
Preheat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add a little oil if you wish (but not needed). If you are adding additional vegetables, saute them now until done to your liking.
Add the squash and let cook for a few minutes, until it just starts to stick to the pan. Add a splash of water and scrape up all the browned bits off the pan. Add all the sauces and stir until squash is coated.
Add more water so there is a very thin layer of water coating the bottom of the pan. Add the eggs and stir, cooking until eggs are done to your liking. Serve immediately.