Cut the squash in half horizontally and leave the seeds intact and skin on. Place the squash cut side up in a 9x11 baking dish along with the red onion, and mushrooms. Pour the half cup of water in the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 30 minutes, or until the squash is easily pierced with a knife.

Scrape the seeds out of the cooked squash and discard them. With a spoon, scrape the squash out of the skin and place into the bowl of your food processor along with the onion, mushrooms, beans and garlic (add any remaining cooking water as needed to thin). Blend until smooth. Serve with raw vegetables as a dip, or use as a sandwich spread. Use the squash skin as bowl if you are serving this as a dip

If you can't find a kobocha squash, try substituting with another type of winter squash like, butternut, acorn or delicata. (For this recipe I used about 2 cups of scraped out squash.) Fully ripened kabocha will have reddish-yellow flesh and a hard skin with a dry, corky stem. It reaches the peak of ripeness about one and a half to three months after it is harvested

Any white bean may be used. I like cannellini, which are white kidney beans, but you might try navy or white northern beans as well.