Oh dear, is it hot outside. How about we not cook with this Vietnamese Green Papaya Salad?
There’s a little Vietnamese restaurant in town that I very often forget about and when I remember, I am mad that I forget about it. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s one of those. However, a few weeks ago I was running errands on that side of town and it was RIGHT there and being a 90 degree day, their green papaya salad just sounded SO GOOD.
And you know, it was! So good that when I was up at the Asian market a few days later, I saw a green papaya, grabbed it and knew that I’d settled on my meal for the week. And when ya’ll saw it on Instagram and asked for the recipe, it was an easy ask.
A better alternative than the bowls of cereal that are often last resort dinners in my house this time of the year, me thinks.
The only issue with my papaya plan was that I just didn’t want to turn the stove on at all, it still being 90 degrees, so I opted to make this a semi-homemade version by snagging a rotisserie chicken from the market. If you’re less of a lazy bum than I, you can absolutely cook your chicken breast as you wish. I would suggest a poach, if I were to not be a lazy bum.
The best thing about this meal is that if you semi-homemake this, you can prep the ingredients in around 20 minutes and then you’re just on an assembly line all week. Here’s what you’ll need:
Green papaya
some sort of chicken breast
mint
basil
peanuts (I opted for roasted/salted, but not necessary)
lime
fish sauce
rice vinegar
sugar
The second half of this list is simply the dressing.
It’s similar enough to the Vietnamese mango chicken salad inspired by my travels, but different enough that you can keep both in your regular summer rotation without a hint of boredom.
Promise promise.
Vietnamese Green Papaya Salad
Vietnamese Green Papaya Salad is an easy, yet traditional southeast Asian salad that is fresh, full of textures and sweet, sour, savory and zingy flavors.
Ingredients
- For the salad:
- 1 green papaya (enough to make about 6 cups shredded papaya)
- 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken, breasts only (or 1 pound poached chicken breast)
- 1 1/2 cups fresh mint (approx 1 handful)
- 1 1/2 cups fresh basil (approx 1 handful)
- 1/3 cup roasted, salted peanuts, chopped
- For the dressing:
- 2 limes (about 1/2 cup juice)
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1 TB granulated sugar
- 2 TB fish sauce
Directions
- Step 1 Peel the papaya and using a box grater or a vegetable slicer (or even a vegetable peeler), cut the papaya into noodle-like cuts. Set aside.
- Step 2 Using two forks, shred the chicken breast into small pieces. Set aside.
- Step 3 Cut each the basil and mint into ribbons. Set aside.
- Step 4 Make the dressing by adding the lime juice, vinegar, fish sauce and sugar to a bowl. Whisk well until the sugar is somewhat dissolved.
- Step 5 Assemble the salad by dividing all the ingredients into four bowl. Toss each with an equal amount of dressing and serve cold or room-temperature.
