If you are looking to make a fresh pickled dish to accompany your meals during Tet, sweet and sour papaya is a great choice. Let’s join TasteVN in the kitchen to immediately prepare 2 ways to make salad that is crispy and wonderfully sweet and sour to enhance your meal!
1. Sweet and Sour Papaya
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Preparation
30 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Papaya Serves 4
Papaya 1 fruit (about 1kg) Shredded ginger 1 tablespoon Minced chili 1 tablespoon Minced garlic 1 tablespoon Fish sauce 110 ml Rice vinegar 220 ml Sugar 220 gr
How to prepare Sweet and Sour Pickled Papaya
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Prepare the papaya
When you buy green papaya, peel it, remove the seeds, and shred it. After shredding, squeeze it to remove excess water.
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Cook the sweet and sour fish sauce
Put a pot on the stove, add 220ml of rice vinegar, 220ml of filtered water, 110ml of fish sauce, and 220g of sugar, then bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves.
Prepare a metal strainer, add 1 tablespoon of shredded ginger, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, and 1 tablespoon of minced chili to the strainer, then briefly blanch them in the boiling fish sauce mixture.
Once finished, turn off the heat and let the fish sauce mixture cool down.
Tip: Blanching ginger, garlic, and chili first helps prevent the pickled papaya from becoming slimy.
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Mix the papaya
Mix the blanched ginger, garlic, and chili with the shredded papaya thoroughly.
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Completion
Put the papaya into a glass jar and pour the cooled fish sauce over the papaya until it’s submerged. Use a weight to press down and keep the papaya submerged in the marinade.
Note: To ensure the glass jar is clean and free of residue, you should wash the jar thoroughly and briefly rinse it with boiling water.
Store the papaya in the refrigerator’s cool compartment, and it will be ready to use after about 1 day.
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Final Product
So, the sweet and sour pickled papaya is ready. The pickled papaya can be used after 1 day, and when you open the lid, you will smell the characteristic aroma of garlic, ginger, chili, and fish sauce blended together.
Eating it will give you a crunchy sensation with a harmonious sweet and sour taste. Serve the pickled papaya on a plate and it can be paired with braised dishes, or enjoyed with bread for a delicious meal.
2. Sweet and sour pickled papaya (recipe shared by a user)
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Preparation
40 minutes
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Cooking
20 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Sweet and sour pickled papaya (recipe shared by a user) Serves 4 people
Green papaya 2 pieces Cooking vinegar 2 cups (rice bowl) Lemon 1/2 piece Minced garlic 1 tablespoon Minced chili 1 tablespoon Chili sauce 2 tablespoons Sugar 2 cups (rice bowl) Salt a little Ice cubes a little
Ingredient image
How to Prepare Sweet and Sour Pickled Papaya (recipe shared by a user)
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Prepare the papaya
Buy a papaya, peel it clean, and wash it thoroughly with water to remove the sap. After that, cut the papaya into 4 or 6 pieces lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds and pulp.
To keep the papaya white and remove sap, prepare a bowl of water, add 1/2 a tablespoon of salt and 1/2 a lemon, stir until dissolved, then soak the papaya for about 5 minutes before taking it out to drain.
After the papaya has drained, to keep it crispy, slice the papaya into bite-sized pieces, soak it in a bowl of water with a few ice cubes for about 15 – 20 minutes, then take it out to drain.
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Marinate the papaya
Put the cut papaya pieces into a bowl, add 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of salt, and 1/2 cup of vinegar. To draw out excess water and help it absorb flavors faster, mix it well with your hands and let it sit for 1 hour. After that, take it out to drain.
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Make the pickling liquid
Place a pot on the stove, add 1.5 cups of vinegar, 1.5 cups of water, and 1.5 cups of sugar into the pot. Then, add 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of chili sauce.
Tip: To measure the exact units, you should use a rice bowl.Boil the mixture over medium heat for about 10 – 15 minutes, then let it cool, and add 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of minced chili.
Depending on the sourness of the vinegar, adjust the seasoning to your taste, it should have a sweet and sour flavor.
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Soak the papaya
After draining, place the papaya into a glass jar, pour the cooled pickling liquid over it, and store it in the refrigerator for about 1 – 2 days before using.
Note: To ensure the glass jar is clean and free of residue that may cause the pickled papaya to mold, you should wash the jar thoroughly and briefly rinse it with boiling water.
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Final Product
So you have completed the sweet and sour papaya dish with eye-catching red and yellow colors and a distinctive aroma. The soaked papaya is crunchy, with a unique sweet and sour taste, suitable to accompany main dishes like grilled or fried items, or to be served as pickles with meals.
How to choose and buy crunchy delicious papaya
- Choose papayas that are elongated, with a yellow skin that has small green specks. Usually, papayas with smooth, shiny skin are those that have been artificially ripened with chemicals.
- A crunchy papaya will feel firm when held, with full and hard flesh, and the stem should still be fresh with sap oozing out.
- To make the dish more visually appealing, you should choose papayas that are just starting to ripen, with beautiful pinkish-red flesh but still crunchy.
- Additionally, you should avoid buying papayas on rainy days (or during the rainy season) as they will not be sweet and delicious.
How to store and the shelf life of pickled papaya
- After placing the sweet and sour pickled papaya in a glass jar, you can store it in the refrigerator for about 1 month.
- If you do not store the pickled papaya in the refrigerator, during the preparation process, you need to shred the papaya, soak it in salt water, rinse it thoroughly, and sun-dry it to make the strands firmer and better preserved. For the finished pickled papaya, keep it in a cool place away from direct sunlight, and it can be stored for about 2 weeks!
- When eating, use clean dry chopsticks to pick the papaya out, do not use chopsticks that have been dipped in other foods as this will cause the pickled papaya to spoil easily.
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With 2 extremely simple ways to make sweet and sour pickled papaya, I hope that you and your family will have joyful moments preparing and enjoying this dish during the Lunar New Year. Wishing you success!
