Vietnamese Papaya Salad

Nothing is more relaxing and comforting to me after a long week of work than having a nice homemade meal with the mom. There's always a welcoming ambiance and the food always tastes better knowing that it was prepared with love. Tonight's meal was Vietnamese Papaya Salad. Something super easy and quick to throw together, but fulfilling nonetheless.

For those of you who don't know the dish, you must be wondering how we're eating papaya for dinner, and in a savory way! Because... well... isn't papaya a fruit? Yes, yes it is. But in this recipe, we use unripe papaya so it's this nice crisp texture. It tastes akin to the texture of a daikon and celery together (just without any flavor). It's definitely like tofu in that it soaks up any flavor you add do it. AND ADD WE SHALL! First before I get ahead of myself, let me explain what all is in this super simple salad: grated unripened papaya, beef jerky, fresh vietnamese herbs and a delicious dressing. To me, there are two important aspects to this dish (other than having good, fresh, unripened papaya): the beef jerky and the dressing.

We usually use asian beef jerky in this recipe. If you've never had it before, it's different than your usual beef jerky in that it's marinated in typically a plum based sauce (it really plays on the sweet and savory note) and is dehydrated in such a way that the end result isn't a dry and brittle piece of jerky. It still retains an abundance of moisture and flavor from the marinade so that when you bite into it you get a chewy, juicy piece of jerky.

Basically you cut up all the ingredients and throw it on a plate and then drown it in the dressing. The one thing you should know about moms is that when they have a recipe they always eye-ball it (or at least mine does). So when I ask her how to make this dressing I don't get specifics like some of us are used to when cooking, it's not "One cup of Soy sauce" or "1/3 C of hoisin" it's, "This much and that much of this and that". So all's I can say is ... Sorry! I have yet to learn how to eye-ball this dressing. I can just tell you what's in it. It's a blend of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sweet and sour sauce, vinegar and red peppers. It's an amalgam of deliciousness. You get hints of sweetness mixed in with tons of umami and the acid and peppers cut through everything to remind your taste buds to stay alert, because more is coming! I usually top everything off with a hint of Sriracha sauce. And end the meal with a very satisfied (but not uncomfortably stuffed) sigh.