Green Papaya Salad!

I decided to skip out on the Super Bowl tonight. My teams have been losing in big games of late, so I'm a bit put-off by the sports gods.

Instead I cooked up my own version of Green Papaya Salad.

Ingredients:

1 Green Papaya, shredded. This link on shredding the papaya is awesome!
1 Beef flank steak.
3 cloves garlic
2-5 chili's (I used dried red chilis)
1" of ginger
pepper
soy sauce
fish sauce
sesame oil
one juicy lime
honey

I shredded the Papaya per the link above. You can use a shredder, or a food processor. Set aside

Whack the ginger and garlic in a mortar and pestle. Put in 2 tsp of freshly ground pepper (or just add the peppercorns and whack a little more!) and chili's in. Whack until you have a nice paste.

Transfer the mortar mix to a saucepan. Add the juice of the lime along with a dab of soy sauce, some sesame oil, 3tsb fish sauce (to taste, as you like), honey, and anything else you like. Bring to a boil, or until you start smelling the pugnacity of the evil (but tasty in small doses) fish sauce.

I tossed the flank steak in a pan and seared/cooked with a little sesame oil, olive oil, and soy sauce. Cook to medium-rare or medium. When done, let cool for a bit. Slice it against the grain into thin strips. Cut it at an angle so get a little more surface area of exposed meat, and chop into bite sized pieces.

Put a portion of the Green Papaya in a bowl, toss the flank on top, and add some of the dressing mixture. Toss to coat.

Interestingly, the meat picked up a lot more of the sauce flavor than the GP. I was a tad surprised! I think had it been a little more oily it would have coated the GP a bit more. Would also have been good with some lemongrass but I didn't have any!

A nice and fresh meal! Eat with chopsticks for optimal enjoyment! :)

-Ryan