Pawpaw Salad with Pork Loin

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This is a delicious green pawpaw (papaya) salad with pork loin serves 6-8 people. I have chosen this zesty summery dish to accompany the 2014 RRV Caritas Rose simply because the robust south-east asian flavours marry perfectly with this elegant charitable single vineyard wine harvested in the sub-region Wilyabrup, Margaret River



Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

1 large green papaya (paw paw)
2 small red hot chillis
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 lime
10 cherry tomatoes
50 grams roasted unsalted peanuts
200gm linley valley pork loin
Extra virgin olive oil
Chopped chives for garnish


Method:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180 deg celcius.
  2. Sear the pork in a pan with evoo, season with black pepper and salt.
  3. Cook the pork loin in the oven from approximately 20 minutes, making sure you leave a touch of juicy pinkness in the middle of the loin. Let cool and rest.
  4. Peel green papaya and wash in fresh water. Use a knife to lightly and finely chop length ways around the papaya. Then shave off the slices with a peeler. Try to make them as thin as you can. Repeat 3 or 4 times till just before you get to the centre seedpod.
  5. Cut tomatoes in half (length ways).
  6. Crush chilli, garlic, salt in a mortar with the pestle till it becomes a paste.
  7. Then add peanuts and crush lightly into chunky pieces.
  8. Add sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Gently mix well and then add green papaya, cherry tomatoes.

Serving Instructions:

Serve on a side plate with chopsticks

Slice up thinly the pork loin, toss gently through the salad mix till well combined.
 Taste and add extra salt, sugar, lime or fish sauce as desired.
 Garnish with chopped chives and serve.

Notes:
 A traditional Lao papaya salad is eaten with raw leaves eg cos lettuce, cabbage etc and sticky rice. Usually Lao people eat it with bamboo soup and another dish eg grilled chicken for a lunchtime meal.

Tips:
 Everyone makes Papaya salad differently to suit their taste eg spicy, sweet and sour, pungent (strong smelling), sour or sweet.
You can add noodles, shrimp or crab paste. Lao people also add a very strong homemade fish sauce called padek


© Copyright 2015 Don Hancey