Greetings everyone,
For today I would like to share some Filipino recipes that mostly serve as an appetiser or side dish but as ordinary people in my area, we usually consume it as viand dish.
Pickled green papaya or in Tagalog we call it achara or in my local dialect, we call it asal
The other day I went to a friend's house to ask for papaya because I found out they had a lot.
This is the exact tree I got the fruit and they also have more at the back of the house.
So the next day I put aside time and energy because making pickled papaya really takes time because of its long process and energy for peeling, grating and removing some papaya liquid inside.
Now here are the ingredients I used
- large green papaya
- ginger
- bell pepper
- carrots
- onion
- garlic
- bitter gourd
- vinegar (coconut wine vinegar)
- salt
- black pepper
- brown sugar
It's a very large green papaya and I can't guess how many kilos it is. The first thing I did was I peeled it first and then I cut it into small pieces so that I can handle it well when I grated it. Then after that, I followed the peeling with the other ingredients.
After I prepare the ingredients I separate the grated papaya to sprinkle with salt and soak it while I slice the other ingredients to release the juice inside the papaya flesh.
Then, I squeezed the grated papaya which I soaked in salt as much as I could to get the papaya juice out and after that, I rinsed them in water thoroughly to remove the saltiness.
Since I run out of gas because I only use a portable stove the harder part of working it was I have to continue it outside and use primitive cooking. In a large pan, I boiled water to blanch the grated papaya before seasoning them.
After blanching them and cool down for a while I repeat the process by squeezing them step by step.
FOR THE SPICE
Making the spice for my pickled green papaya was easy. First, in the pan, I dissolve the brown sugar in the coconut vinegar and simmer. Meanwhile, I add the hardest ingredients which are carrots and ginger and followed by onion and garlic. After a minute I put bell peppers and season with salt and pepper and simmer again and remove them from the fire and add the slices of bitter gourds after. Finally after tasting the spice time to combine the grated papaya gradually.
The papaya was so big that I made pickles so I shared most of it with my family and the friend who I asked for the fruit.
So if you like to try this recipe because of its delicious taste and its health benefits you can place them after into jars and seal them tightly and place them in the fridge to stay longer. At the time it was done you can already eat the pickles but it would be tastier if you let them soak with the spice four hours after you eat them.
Thanks for reading this far I appreciate it so much. I hope you like my dish and see you again in my next food recipes.
Have a good day and stay safe always everyone!