Green Pawpaw Papaya Salad With Seafood Recipes

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD

Steps:

• In a blender or mortar, blend or pound garlic, salt, peanuts, chilies, sugar and shrimp (if using) into a paste. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in lime juice and fish sauce. Use a spoon (or the mortar) to lightly crush tomatoes and beans (if using), then add to bowl and mix lightly.
• Peel and coarsely grate or shred papaya, discarding seeds and inner membrane. There should be 4 to 6 cups.
• Add papaya to bowl and lightly but thoroughly toss together. Taste for seasoning. Mound in a bowl (if desired, line bowl with lettuce leaves beforehand). Sprinkle with peanuts and serve.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD

Steps:

• Combine garlic, chiles, and green beans into a mortar and pound roughly. Add the papaya and pound again, to bruise the ingredients. Stir in fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar and pound again. Ad the tomato and pound to combine. Stir in the chopped peanuts and serve.
• If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can make a version of this in your blender or food processor: coarsely chop the garlic, chile peppers, and green beans. Mix in the papaya, and pulse a few times. Mix in the tomato, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar. Pulse to combine; salad should still have texture. Transfer to a serving dish and stir in the peanuts.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD

Steps:

• In a large metal or wooden bowl (not glass), stir together dried shrimp, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, lime and chiles. Using a wooden muddler or pestle (or a wooden spoon), lightly pound the ingredients to bruise and release their flavors.
• Mix shredded papaya and tomatoes into fish sauce mixture, tossing until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve, then top with chopped peanuts.

GREEN PAWPAW (PAPAYA) SALAD WITH SEAFOOD

Steps:

• First prepare all the ingredients as described above - keep any ends and trimmings of garlic, shallots, coriander root, lemon grass, mint and coriander stalks, and odd bits of lemon grass and a couple of spare kaffir lime leaves aside to flavour the water you're going to cook the seafood in.
• Next, make the dressing as it has to sit for at least 15 minutes for the flavours to merge.
• To make dressing, mix together all ingredients and taste to ensure there is a good balance of hot, sour, sweet and salty - adjust ingredients as necessary.
• Now prepare to cook the seafood.
• Using a very sharp knife, score the inside of the squid tubes diagonally, then score in the opposite direction (to form a diamond pattern).
• Cut the squid into rough triangle shapes - about 4 per tube.
• Prepare a medium bowl of ice cold water, with ice cubes in it, and sit it by the stove.
• Fill a large pot with water and add ends and trimmings as described above and a couple of tablespoons of salt.
• Bring water to a rolling boil then add the seafood in small batches, cooking prawns for about a minute, and squid for about 30 seconds. (The seafood can be a bit hard to find in the water, so just add a little at a time, and you'll have to 'fish' for it.)
• Remove seafood and immediately plunge into iced water. This cooking technique will make the squid so tender you won't believe it!
• When seafood is completely cold, prepare salad.
• In a large bowl toss together pawpaw, shallots, coriander, mint leaves, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, seafood and 1/4 cup of the hot and sour dressing (serve any remaining dressing on the side).
• To present salad, transfer to a plate, bring most of the seafood to the top and arrange decoratively, then sprinkle with crushed peanuts and crispy shallots.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD WITH GRILLED PRAWNS

Steps:

• In a large heavy bowl, or mortar and pestle, combine the chiles and garlic with a spoon, pressing down gently to break them down slightly. Add the papaya and mix, again pressing down to soften the shreds. Add the carrots and crab or shrimp and toss. Add the sugar, salt, fish sauce, and lime juice and toss well. Add the cherry tomatoes and toss to combine. Set aside.
• Preheat grill. Using a sharp knife, cut through the shell to make a slit down the back of each prawn, leaving the shell on. Thread 2 prawns onto each skewer. Brush the prawns with oil and place on the hot grill. Grill for 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until just cooked through.
• Transfer the salad to a serving platter or individual plates, top with the grilled prawns, and garnish with lime wedges.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD

Steps:

• To make the dressing, in a small bowl, stir together the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, and chiles until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to develop the flavors.
• Peel the papaya with a vegetable peeler and then cut off the stem. Halve the papaya lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out and discard the seeds. Cut each half lengthwise into quarters, and then use a knife to remove the thin white layer lining the cavity. Using a Japanese Benriner slicer (page 22) or a food processor fitted with the largest shredder blade, shred the papaya pieces. Aim for thin strands about 1/16 inch thick, no more than 3/16 inch wide, and 2 1/2 to 3 inches long (about the size of the shredded mozzarella you put on a pizza.)
• Put the shredded papaya in a colander, add the sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, and use both hands to massage the sugar and salt vigorously into the papaya. After a few minutes, the papaya will be a little slimy and limp yet still firm. At that point, rinse it under lots of cold running water to remove the salt and sugar.
• Working in batches, wring out excess moisture from the papaya in a nonterry dish towel: position a mound of the papaya in the center, roll it up in the towel, and then twist the ends in opposite directions to force out the liquid. Do this 3 or 4 times. You want to extract enough water from the papaya yet not completely crush it. Transfer the papaya to a large bowl and fluff it up to release it from its cramped state.
• Fill a small saucepan half full with water, add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the shrimp, remove from the heat, and let stand for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the shrimp have curled nicely and are pinkish orange. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool, leaving the water in the pan. When the shrimp are cool enough to handle, shred them with your fingers into 1/4-inch pieces. Let the shrimp pieces continue to cool to room temperature and then add them to the bowl containing the papaya.
• While the shrimp are cooling, trim any excess fat from the pork chop. Return the water in the pan to a rolling boil and drop in the pork. When the water starts bubbling at the edges of the pan, remove the pan from the heat and cover tightly. Let stand for 20 minutes. Th e pork should be firm yet still yield a bit to the touch. Remove the pork from the pan. Reserve the light stock for another use or discard. When the pork is cool enough to handle, cut it into matchsticks. Let the pork continue to cool to room temperature and then add it to the shrimp and papaya.
• Just before serving, add the Vietnamese coriander to the salad and toss to distribute evenly. Pour on the dressing and toss again. (If you don't want to bite into a piece of chile unexpectedly, strain the dressing over the salad.) Taste and adjust the flavors to your liking, balancing the sour, sweet, salty, and spicy. Transfer to a serving plate, leaving any unabsorbed dressing behind, and serve.
• notes
• You may ready the papaya, shrimp, and pork a day in advance. Keep them in separate covered containers in the refrigerator, and return them to room temperature before tossing the salad. The dressing may be prepared several hours in advance.
• When I am including this salad in a meal that contains a pork-based dish, I leave out the shredded pork and add more shrimp (use about 3/4 pound total). If papaya isn't available or if you would like a slightly more assertive flavor, use daikon instead. Select young daikons (which have a milder taste) no more than 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
• To make another Vietnamese favorite, substitute sweet-and-spicy Asian beef jerky for the shrimp and pork. Purchase the thin, dark red sheets of jerky, packed in plastic wrap or in boxes, at a Chinese or Vietnamese market. Using scissors, cut about 3 ounces of the jerky into short strips that match the papaya strips; you will have about 3/4 cup. Combine the papaya, jerky, and 1/4 cup shredded fresh Thai basil leaves. Toss the mixture with the same dressing as for the pork and shrimp version, but use a little less, as you will have a slightly smaller amount of salad.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD WITH SHRIMP

Steps:

• In a small saucepan of boiling salted water cook shrimp 45 seconds to 1 minute, or until cooked through. In a colander drain shrimp and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Halve shrimp horizontally and devein.
• Make dressing:
• In a large bowl whisk together dressing ingredients until sugar is dissolved.
• Add shrimp, papaya, carrot, and coriander to dressing, tossing well. Salad may be made 2 hours ahead and chilled, covered. Bring salad to room temperature before serving.
• Serve salad sprinkled with peanuts.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD

Steps:

• Wash the shrimp with salted cold water.
• Drain and set aside.
• Boil water in a medium sauce pan.
• When the water begins to boil put the piece of pork in the sauce pan and simmer over medium heat for at least 30 minutes until cooked through.
• Drain and set aside.
• When it's cool, julienne cut into long thin 2-inch strips.
• In another sauce pan, boil water.
• When the water is boiling, put the shrimp in and cook for 5 minutes.
• Drain the shrimp, split in half and set aside.
• Soak the shredded green papaya in a large bowl of cold water with 1 teaspoon of salt.
• Let it sit for 10 minutes; then rinse and drain it well.
• Use a cheesecloth to squeeze out the water from the shredded papaya.
• Add pork, shrimp (save a few shrimp to decorate the top of salad), fish sauce dip, and toss.
• To make fish sauce dip simply combine the ingreidents listed and mix well.
• To serve: Put the salad on a plate and arrange the cooked shrimp on top, sprinkle the top with coriander, and basil or mint, and chopped peanuts.
• Guests can use shrimp crackers to scoop up the salad to eat.
• A second method of serving: use finely shredded beef jerky instead of pork and shrimp.
• The rest of the preparations are the same.