Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Green Papaya Salad with Seared Scallops

Went to the asian market and found some really green papaya. This recipe for green papaya salad came from Gourmet. I bought some sea scallops from the local grocery store, pan-seared them, and served them on top of the papaya salad.

For sambal belacan
2 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
3 (5 1/2-inch) fresh Holland red chiles*, sliced, including seeds
1/2 tsp sugar

For salad
1/4 oz small dried shrimp* (1 tablespoon)
1/4 tsp salt
2 shallots, thinly sliced crosswise (1/4 cup)
1 (1 1/2-lb) piece green papaya* or 1 1/2 lb seedless cucumber (1 to 2; usually plastic-wrapped)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Make sambal belacan: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350F.

Wrap belacan tightly in foil and bake 10 minutes. Open foil carefully and cool belacan to room temperature, about 15 minutes. Crumble belacan into mini food processor and finely purée with chiles and sugar. I open foil outside on the patio so that the house doesn't smell of belacan.

Make salad:
Soak shrimp in 1 cup hot water in a bowl until soft, about 10 minutes.

While shrimp soak, stir together salt and 1 cup cold water until salt is dissolved, then add shallot and soak 5 minutes. Drain shallot in a sieve and pat dry.

Drain shrimp in a colander and pat dry. Pulse shrimp in cleaned mini processor until finely ground.

Peel, halve, and seed papaya (or cucumber). Cut into large pieces, then cut into 1/8-inch-thick matchsticks with slicer.

Stir together lime juice, sugar, and 1 tablespoon sambal belacan in a large serving bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add shrimp, shallot, and papaya, tossing to combine well.

Sambal belacan keeps, covered and chilled, 3 months.

Note: Served this as a side dish to chicken satay and pad thai noodles. This was an unusual way to serve green papaya salad and the sambal added a kick to this dish. I liked the seared scallops with the salad as a change from the sliced beef or shrimp that were usually served with this dish too. This recipes makes enough for 8 side servings. If you can't find green papayas in your neighbourhood, you can substitute with shredded or julienned carrots, cucumber or zucchini. Or a combination of all that would be like and refreshing!

24 comments:

Anh said...

I am always a big fan of papya salad. And serving it with scallops just lift the dish to a whole new level!

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Hi Anh,
Me too! It was sooooo good! :D

KellytheCulinarian said...

Sounds delicious, I haven't had papaya in years!

daphne said...

Seared scallops.. SO GOOD! bet the flavors merge well together.

WokandSpoon said...

Green papaya salad, belacan and scallops! Heaven!

Retno Prihadana said...

your papaya salad makes me drooling...

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Hi Kelly,
Thanks!

Hi Daphne,
It did!

Hi Wokandspoon,
Yes!

Hi Retno Prihadana,
Haha! Thanks!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Yummy and I love the pan seared scallops with green papaya. Just bought me some big scallops last Sunday and can't wait to pan seared them.

Anonymous said...

The papaya is really green. Looks like a huge oval lime! :P
I love seared scallops...juicy and yummy!

Anonymous said...

I am really 'sua ku'. My mum raved about papaya salad in Thailand. I meant to try but never got around to it.
This looks delicious. You are able to get green papaya were you are, obviously. :)

Cynthia said...

You know I've only ever eaten ripe papyas never the green ones. Must try it sometime.

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Hey C,
Yummy is right!

Hi Tigerfish,
LOL! It does look like a giantic lime uh?

Hi Judy,
You should try it one day!
Yes, I found lots of green papaya at this other asian market.

Hi Cynthia,
My thai girlfriend loves green papaya salad in the summertime and it's the dressing that makes the salad, I think.

Big Boys Oven said...

this sounds like a thai salad. OMG! scallops... I love them so much... the bigger the better!!!!lol

Indonesia Eats said...

green papaya and scallops.... looking good..

Cris said...

Papaya salad is so new to me... and I grew up in a place with lots of them, my mom used to make them caramelized.

wonda said...

That's a fantastic idea but I hardly can buy green papaya here. You are so fortunate to get so many things in Asian market. No such market in my place. I can't even get sun-dried tomatoes .

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Hi Big Boys Oven,
I totally agree! :)

Hi Adaliman,
Thanks!

Hi Cris,
Caramelizing green papayas sounds wonderful, you should post that recipe!

Hi Wonda,
I've tried it with shredded cucumber, shredded carrots and shredded zucchini, and they all work well. Try it and tell me what you think, ok? :)
As for sun dried tomatoes, it's easy to make your own in the oven. Let me know if you want that recipe. :)

wonda said...

Would love to have the sun-dried tomatoes recipe. Is it easy to make them? Thanks.

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Hi Alice,
Do you have a dehydrator? Or you can use the oven too. The recipe is at http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blv55.htm or at http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-make-slow-roasted-tomatoes.html

wonda said...

Thanks for the trouble. I looked up the two sites, one is about recipes using sun-dried tomatoes and the other is turning tomotoes into roasted ones with herbs. I don't know if I looked at the right place or not. Anyway, I finally found a site which teaches how to make sun-dried tomatoes. http://txtx.essortment.com/howtomakesund_rzes.htm

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Dear Alice,
Yes, those 2 recipes are for making tomatoes in a oven vs. a dehydrator, as I didn't know if you had a dehydrator. Either way will get you tomatoes that's like sun-dried. Glad you found another web site too.

Padma said...

that looks fabulous, nice combo of scallops with green papaya....

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Hi Padma,
Thanks!

Chef Jeena said...

Fantastic recipe I have never tried scallops, you cartainly make them look very tasty with that lovely salad. :)