Green Papaya Salad with Prawns

(Gỏi đu đủ với tôm)







It has been awhile since I've blogged about food but I have managed to try some new dishes and experiment with different recipes. One of my favorite recipe is inspired by Australia based Vietnamese chef Luke Nguyen. Here is my interpretation of Green Papaya Salad with Prawns, a popular Vietnamese salad. In Vietnam, Gỏi đu đủ is usually served with beef jerky, but I much prefer the flavor and freshness of prawns. It is springtime, an ideal time to take advantage of the fresh vegetables from local farms. I recommend incorporating local organic produce into salads when possible. You will taste the difference!

Green Papaya Salad with Prawns
Servings: 4-6
Prep Time: 1 hour


The fresh fish sauce dressing

Fresh fish sauce dressing:
6 tablespoons fish sauce
6 tablespoons white vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
1 cup water
4 cloves garlic, crushed and finely minced
3 red chilies, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (one whole lime)


The salad ingredients include green papaya, carrots, herbs, lime and chilies

Salad:
1 green papaya, peeled and finely julienned*
1 head of butter lettuce or leafy green lettuce, thinly sliced
4 medium carrots, thinly shredded (use a vegetable peeler)
4 tablespoon fried red Asian shallots*
4 tablespoon crushed roasted peanuts
Fresh green mint leaves, finely sliced
Fresh Asian basil leaves, finely sliced*
Fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely sliced
16-20 medium-size tiger prawns (shrimp), peeled, deveined and halved lengthwise

*Can be found at specialty Asian markets.


Halved papaya with shredded carrots and fresh herbs

DIRECTIONS:

To make the fresh fish sauce dressing:
Combine the fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, and water in a saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir well until the sugar is melted, turn off the heat, then allow to cool. If you do not want to cook the fish sauce due to the strong smell, another option is to melt the sugar with a cup of hot water. Then combine this mixture with the fish sauce and vinegar and place in the refrigerator to cool. To serve, add the minced garlic and chilies and stir through with the lime juice. The red chilies are extremely hot, so use them with caution.


Mixing the ingredients for the dressing in a pot



The dressing with lots of spicy chilies


To cook the shrimp:
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add in the prawns with shell on. Cook the shrimp for about 2 minutes. Place the cooked shrimp in ice water, then peel the shrimp. On a cutting board, halve the shrimp lengthwise, and devein.

For the salad:
First, peel the hard green papaya with a vegetable peeler. Then cut the papaya in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape away all of the seeds from the inside. Rinse the papaya with cold water. Use a mandolin to finely julienne the papaya into long strips (*note* papaya can be difficult and slippery to julienne. Be careful when using a mandolin. It is better to stop when you get close to the core in order to prevent cuts to your hand). Submerge the green papaya in cold water for five minutes and then drain. This keeps the crisp texture of the green papaya.

The carrots add a nice sweetness to the salad so make sure to pick fresh organic carrots when possible. For the carrots, use a vegetable peeler to peel away the skin and then shred them into long, thin strips.

Wash the lettuce in cold water. Lay the leaves on top of each other and slice thinly. In a large bowl combine the green papaya, lettuce, carrots, sliced mint, sliced basil and sliced cilantro.

Putting it all together:
Place salad onto a serving platter and arrange the prawns on top of the green
papaya salad. Generously drizzle the fresh fish sauce dressing on top of the salad.
Garnish with fried Asian shallots and roasted crushed peanuts. Enjoy!


The salad with all the toppings including shrimp, peanuts, herbs and chilies