Friday, November 6, 2009

Green papaya salad (Thai)

This is my second year in Ahmedabad and like it always happens, though I hate admitting it, we have settled in better - got used to the weather to some extent, though I cant stop complaining about it after living in my dear ol' Bangalore for almost all my life this far...
What has made me feel most 'settled in' here is that I know few more people here now and that I've had visitors almost every month since July...parents, in-laws, cousins, and last weekend, my dear friend from Bangalore was here...

Shopping, eating, chatting up, it was such fun, just like the good old days from college, though we now also discussed hair colours to hide the greys !!

We decided on a Thai menu for lunch - green papaya salad, green curry and pineapple basil rice...
Raw papaya was something we had to go looking for in Bangalore, but here its used pretty frequently in cooking, and I was so excited the first time I saw one in the market

Raw Papaya

The salad has a lovely combination of heat from the chillies, garlic, sugar and the tangy taste from the lemon...the raw papaya and the peanuts add the crunch factor

Salad

thai lunch

Adapted from Nita Mehta's Thai Vegetarian Cooking

What you need -

1 medium sized raw papaya
1 tomato
1/2 cup roasted peanuts

Dressing -

1 tsp soya sauce
3 tbsp lemon juice
4 tsp sugar syrup (I used 3 tbsp of sugar, didnt have time to make the syrup)
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 tsp salt
3 green chillies
1 clove garlic

What you do with it -

Crush together the green chillies and garlic to a rough paste Mix this with all the other ingredients of the dressing
Peel and grate the papaya into thick long shreds
(In the book, she says you can cut into juliennes, I tried that once and its really painful - grating is an easier option)
Cut the tomato into four, deseed and cut into small squares
Add the grated papaya and tomato to the dressing and mix well
Cover with a cling film and chill for at least an hour so the flavours penetrate
Mix in half the roated peanuts
Lightly crush the remaining peanuts and top the salad with it

13 comments:

Nithya said...

Something really new and interesting. Amazing clicks too :)

Sharmila said...

What a wonderful recipe Arch! I prefer the papaya grated too .. the long strips are too much in a mouthful. :-) Must try this out.

dear friend from bangalore said...

lovely pictures and the food was delicious

SJ said...

J for Jealousy!

Sayantani said...

Beautiful recipe and looks inviting too.

Malar Gandhi said...

Very new and soemthing really interesting...had raw green papaya curry, but this is totaly diff', a must try one.

amna said...

this is something i love as an appetizer. although the mango version is more popular with ppl i know, there's something about the papaya that's awesome, no? :)

Cham said...

I made the mango version this one sounds cool and the pict with food, such a feast!

Parita said...

We make a green papaya pickle, loved your version of salad too, sounds really good, will watch out for some green papayas here :-)

Miri said...

what a lovely meal that sounds like - and good company always adds to it


Miri

Sonia said...

Thank you for trying my version of Gujarati daal. I hope you got ur desired taste. :)

nandini said...

what a coincidence ... i had this just yesterday and thought i should try an get the recipe!.. u read my mind .pics look good!

Anonymous said...

Hi Archana,

I am a friend of Maya's in Bangalore. Maya introduced me to your blog last year when we met at work, in Blr. I have been meaning to post a comment on your blog since then! :)

I must tell you you have a wonderful style of writing and it makes one feel that you are talking to the reader--very warm & personal. Apart from that, the core talent ofcourse is your culinary talent itself! Not to mention the mouth watering pictures that you so elegantly photograph & present. I really admire the passion with which you cook AND write AND present! :)

By the way, please watch Julie & Julia (seems like a movie made on you) and do let us know how you like it. It is a MUST watch and even before I watched the movie, both Maya & I thought it is on you when we read the review. It's a different matter though that I ditched Maya and watched the movie without her. Though I have told her I dont mind watching it all over again for her! :)

I havent yet tried making stuff from your blog recipes but intend to do so, soon. Everytime i visit your blog, i salivate, get inspired and log off! But I want to seriously try some non-Indian cooking now. Will let you know soon.

All the best to you and keep blogging!

Best wishes,
Gita

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