Green Papaya Salad, the Filipino Atchara, is a delicious salad, condiment, sandwich filling, basically eat it how you like. It is totally addictive! It reminds me of the sweet kraut that we used to get a Jewish Delis when I lived in Philly. Sweet. Tart. So yummy you can’t stop eating it.
Used 4 of the 6 papayas to make two quarts of Green Papaya Salad
Our neighbor across the street had planted two papaya trees and they were loaded with fruit! His problem was that he was going to be in Shanghai for two months and didn’t want them to go to waste. So he told us to feel free to take as many as we wanted. At about the same time our neighbor next door invited us to his daughter’s Baby Shower which would be a brunch at a large state park nearby. So I quickly put two and two together and offered to bring Green Papaya Salad.
One quart of Filipino Atchara also known as Green Papaya Salad
A couple of days before the event Steve went over to pick 4 large unripe papayas from the trees. Apparently there were also several ripe ones that had fallen to the ground and were partially eaten by a rather large iguana that was passing through our neighborhood. Wish I had a picture of that! To my beautiful unripe papayas I needed to also have carrots, red bell peppers, shallots, ginger, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. I was ready to roll. My recipe also called for a mild green chile pepper, but since I was making this for a brunch and for 30 people, most of whom I didn’t know, I decided to play it safe and eliminate the heat.
I made 2 quarts of Green Papaya Salad for the baby shower.
The hardest part of making the Atchara was getting rid of the hundreds of little round seeds. Once the papayas were peeled and seeded I shredded them with the fine shredding blade off my food processor. It was so fast that I tried to do the same with the bell peppers but quickly learned it emulsified them. So I nixed that idea and hand cut them into julienne strips. I made really pretty carrot flowers using a deep red carrot with bright yellow center. That part was really easy and fun. I hope you try this and love it as much as we all did. One guest said it was her “new favorite thing”!
Print
Green Papaya Salad
Filipino Atchara, or Green Papaya Salad, is the perfect accompaniment to grilled foods. It is great with anything and everything adding crunch, vinegary tartness and slight sweetness to round out a meal.
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: One quart 1x
Ingredients
2 pounds green papaya, peeled and seeds scraped out
1 small carrot, peeled and trimmed
8 ounces shredded carrots
1 large red bell pepper, trimmed and seeded
5 shallots, trimmed and peeled
2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and minced
2 cups apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Finely shred the papaya with a mandoline, box grater or food processor. Place in a non-reactive bowl and sprinkle with the salt, Toss well to combine and toss again every 10 minutes for 30 minutes.
- Drain the shredded papaya in a colander. Using a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth, or even a clean T-shirt, squeeze out as much of the moisture as possible.
- Make the pretty carrot flowers by cutting 4 very thin wedges of carrot around the perimeter cutting the length of the carrot. Then thinly slice into coins. Reserve for garnish.
- Julienne the red bell pepper.
- Slice the shallots about 1/4-inch thick and leave the rings intact.
- Pour the apple cider vinegar into a medium pot and add the sugar and the pepper. Bring to a boil whisking to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Place the drain papaya, the ginger, shredded carrots and julienned bell pepper into a bowl and mix well to combine.
- Layer about an inch or so of the vegetables into a clean, sterilized, one quart mason jar, or two pint jars, and carefully place the carrot flowers against the glass around the jar, allowing the vegetables to hold the carrots in place. Continue layering with vegetables and carrot flowers until the jar is full.
- Ladle the hot vinegar mixture into the jar(s).
- Wipe the mouth of the jar(s) with a clean towel and seal. The salad with keep in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Salad/Condiment
- Method: Pickling
- Cuisine: Filipino
Trackbacks/Pingbacks