Vietnamese Papaya Salad

I am a salad fanatic and my Hanoi domestic helper, H, is a GREAT salad maker! The salad dressings that she makes are really yummy and leaves me relishing for more! Having enjoyed so much of her salads, I decided to draw up a recipe in my blog so that I will be able to recall how to make them when I return to Singapore.

Vietnamese salads use lots of vinegar, sugar, lime and garlic. These are the key items. For the health conscious, sugar can be replaced with honey and both, trust me, are equally good. There is a lot of emphasis on using natural herbs and spices to bring out the unique flavours of each vegetable, rather than mask the taste through ready-made salad dressings. Without further ado, here is the recipe for Vietnamese Papaya Salad!

Ingredients:
- 500g of green papaya, sliced thinly
- 100g of carrot, sliced thinly
- 100g of pork
- Groundnuts (2 tablespoons, chopped)
- Coriander leaves (a handful would suffice)
- Mint leaves (same as above)
- Garlic (10 cloves)
- White vinegar
- Fish sauce
- Sugar (or honey)
- Salt
- Cinnamon powder

1. Marinate the pork with 2 teaspoon of fish sauce and garlic (4 cloves, finely chopped). Add 1 teaspoon of sugar, followed by 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder. Mix the mixture thoroughly. Leave the meat to marinate for 15 mins.
   
   
2. Fry the pork in 3 teaspoons of oil till golden brown. Set it aside to cool and cut into thin strips. Put this aside.
   


3. Add some salt to the sliced papaya and carrot mixture and toss thoroughly. Leave the mixture for 10 mins to allow it to soften.
4. Drain the water from the mixture once it has softened. Put the mixture aside.
   


5. Cut the coriander and mint leaves into small pieces and mix with the papaya mixture above. Add the thin strips of meat and chopped groundnuts. Mix well.
   


6. To make the salad dressing, put the garlic (6 cloves, finely chopped) and chilli (3 small chilli padis, chopped with seeds removed) into a small bowl. Note: The chilli is optional but adds a delicious spicy tinge to the salad. Squeeze in a lime. Add 5 dessertspoons of vinegar and 3 dessertspoons of sugar (or honey). Stir the mixture thoroughly.
   
   
7. Pour the salad dressing over the papaya and meat mixture prepared in Step 5. Toss the salad well and a delicious, homemade papaya salad is ready to serve!