Green Papaya and Grapefruit Salad

I have been keeping us warm with some spicy Thai food this week, but this has left me with some odds and ends in the kitchen that need to be used up. I have been eating grapefruit nonstop (deathly afraid to let any of my stolen booty go to waste!) and came up with this crunchy, spicy, salty, bitter, sweet, and sour salad.

I have talked to some folks who read my blog and they mention that my recipes seem complicated, or have too many ingredients. Do you feel that way? I often just reach for what I already have in my pantry and start playing. I realize that not everyone has the obsessive condiment collection that I do, but I never thought of my recipes as complicated. Sorry!

Since I really do enjoy cooking Thai food I have a those ingredients ready all the time, which allowed me to bust this salad out in 10 minutes. I had 1/2 of a green papaya leftover from papaya salad and decided to experiment. This goes well with some roast chicken and rice, or some sauteed shrimp.


If you don't have access to green papaya you could easily substitute jicama.

Green Papaya and Grapefruit Salad
2 cups peeled, sliced or shredded green papaya or jicama
1 large grapefruit peeled and divided into segments. (Here is an easy way to do this)
1-2 thai chiles, or a jalapeno
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 cup toasted coconut

1. In a bowl combine shredded papaya and grapefruit. Squeeze any additional juice from the peel over the salad.
2. If you have a mortar and pestle crush chilies and brown sugar into a paste. I suggest starting with 1 chili because they are SPICY!! If you do not have a mortar and pestal finely chop a chili and combine with brown sugar.
3. Mix chili and sugar mixture with salad, toss with fish sauce. Add coconut and combine. Taste and adjust seasonings.