Thursday, April 16, 2009

Papayani ChheeN - Raw Papaya Salad


In Mumbai, Vasaiwala used to bring the raw papaya or Vasaiwali used to have raw papaya in the market. I have never seen a raw papaya in the US. Just the other day, I spotted a big red Caribbean papaya at our local Costco. Expecting it to be juicy, I bought it. I even let it ripen for a 2-3 days. But only upper part was ripe. So i carefully removed the ripe part for eating and then removed the raw looking white part, wondering if I could make a couple of raw papaya recipes with it. My first attempt was my MIL's Papaya ni ChheeN. I tried it and it worked for us.

Thanks so much, Maya, for all your help with the watermark and script for my blog.

Papaya ni ChheeN
Grated Raw Papaya Salad
Ingredients
1 small raw papaya, peeled, seeds discarded, grated about 1 - 1 1/2 cup
salt to taste
1 or 2 green chilies, minced
1 knob fresh turmeric root, peeled & grated or minced
1 key lime, freshly squeezed

Tempering
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients except tempering.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida.
3. Pour sizzling oil over the salad. Mix well.

Note
1. Adjust the amount of the lemon juice based on the tartness required.
2. Please note that ripe papaya does not work in this recipe. If the ripe papaya has whitish part, you can grate it and use it.

13 comments:

bee said...

dear meera, most thai stores have raw papaya already grated. they use it for a salad called 'som tam'.

notyet100 said...

easy n healthy..

Purnima said...

Loved the dual use u put papaya to! The chheen (new to me!) is giving away a comforting look! :) Tks for sharing! (Loved the 'Jo biwi sey kare pyaar' booklet recipe of Salman oops...Salmon too! Wow wt turmeric leaves n all..lemon pickle ..tonda udda yetta polonuchi!)

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

OhGod how did you manage to grate papaya without smashing... Gosh I never thought there is going to be a dish with Papaya tempered... Nice one...

Asha said...

WOW!! Looks so yum. I get Papaya here too but they are weird looking half ripe and half raw like you said, never bought it. Should get one and see, I love raw Papaya palya! :)

Arc said...

I too get raw papaya from the asian market. They have both grated ones and the whole raw ones.

Le @HC said...

never tried raw papaya.. looking at several blogs, im inspired to try it.. Thanks for sharing!

Uma said...

Looks great Meera! Never tried eating papaya this way. Shall try it!

Pavithra said...

Looking so healthy...Nice and easy too.. i will try it

Divya Vikram said...

I remember my grandma making a similar dish.. SOunds tangy n umm!

Ammu said...

Cool salad... I do the same with carrot.

Meera said...

Bee:
I will look into the oriental stores. Wow, didn't know they keep it already grated. Thanks so much for sharing.

Priyanka:
Thanks.

Purnima:
Oh yeah - "jo biwise sachmuch kare pyar, woh prestige se kaise kare inkaar!!" Wow, you took me to those good old days.Gosh, I remembered the whole ad now!!:-D

Ramya:
Actually, there are quite a few dishes with papaya cooked/tempered . But i dont get a decent raw papaya here. Now I will keep looking at the oriental/chinese stores as Bee has suggested.

Asha:
I know, I am always in dilemma to buy or not to buy when I see that papaya!!:-D

Arc:
Thanks for sharing. I will surely keep my eyes open next time.

le@CH:
Do give it a shot. You may like it.

Uma:
I hope you like it.

Meera said...

Pavithra:
Thanks so much.

Divya V:
Wow, really? Do blog about it. Looking forward to your grandma's version.

Ammu:
Carrot salad sounds healthy too.

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