Papaya salad is all our time favorite South East Asian style salad. We like them traditional but we also like them with all sorts of fun variations. In Vietnam we've had them with beef jerky, pork skin, and snails!! The snail salad is something we can't stop talking about. We had been biking around Hoi An all day and stumbled into a old mom and pop serving the salad along side crispy grilled sesame rice crackers. A few years later we managed to find the same spot that was tucked away based on a few key memories.
Every time we make a papaya salad it is ever so slightly different.
We will usually fry up some peanuts, kefir lime leaves, and turmeric add this on top last. But this time around we added some pickled local bamboo and green starfruit for a funky edition. Next, Shannon wants to try adding mangosteen so that we can add less sweetner to the dressing! Will keep you all posted on that concept.
**Green Papaya ** Your papaya must be green, if it is at all starting to ripen your salad will not turn out well. If you can't get a green one, use green cabbage instead. You will also need the proper peeler unless you want to old school knife it. Check out the Kiwi Pro below, we have been using this for years.
Salad Ingredients:(follow your own intuition and create with what you have!)
4 Cups Shredded Green Papaya
1/2 cup peanuts
1 tbs chopped turmeric
1 tbs chopped ginger
6 lime leaves or 2 stalks of lemongrass
1/4 cup pickled bamboo or maybe some onions?
fresh chilis of your choosing (jalapeño, Thai chili, Hawaiian chili, habanero)
1/2 cup slightly green mango, green starfruit, crunchy peaches, nectarines, grapefruit, ... whatever you have let your imagination take hold
1 rose for a pretty garnish
1/4 -1/2 cup of avocado oil for frying (or whatever oil you like to fry with)
Sauce:
1 part Sour Flower Vinegar (Mango, Guava, Jackfruit, any of our fruity plain ones work great here!)
1 part fish sauce
1 part honey or sugar
1 part water
garlic and chilis
- First peel the outer layer of the papaya then use the special shredder to get your papaya strips. Careful towards the middle because the seeds can be bitter. *Or thinly slice cabbage
- Give the shredded papaya or cabbage a nice massage so that it is not so stiff
- Add your fruit and pickled whatever over top the shredded papaya in the bowl you plan to serve out of
- Fry the peanuts, turmeric, ginger, lemongrass/lime leaves until the peanuts are ready
- Strain the hot oil and pour the hot ingredients over the assembled salad in the bowl
- Top with some sort of garnish like cilanto, thai basil or rose petals and chilis... better yet .. all 4
- Right before serving, pour the appropriate amount of sauce over top - you don't want to drown it and you can keep any left overs for dipping grilled meats, spring rolls, rice bowls, etc. I did not provide proportions for the sauce, just make at least 2 tbs worth for each of the "parts"
There is no wrong or right way to make a papaya salad. No recipe is right!! Enjoy it the way you choose to make it. The most important thing really is your green papaya/cabbage and the sauce.
AB&biw=2133&bih=1021&dpr=0.9#vhid=Xqt8ArHB6WR7DM&vssid=mosaic -- Kiwi Pro Slice Peeler
