December 04, 2007

Green Papaya Curry..

A lot of things have changed with the new entrant. Whereas earlier no recipe seemed too hard or too long, now my mind first scans the preparation and cooking time for each recipe. If the process is too long, its ok. I can start the work, take a break, continue, take a break.....But if it requires too much concentration, forget it. So I lean towards the familiar recipes. Suddenly rice doesn't seem so bad with the rice cooker doing the work(surprisingly for a mallu, I prefer chapathi), and the curry and accompaniments then should something that you can make with your eyes closed.Just kidding...


You have to start blogging somewhere, right? So let me start with one of my favorite curries..papaya curry. Very common in our households back in Kerala. I remember having a lot of this at my relatives, grandma's and now my parents houses. Probably because almost every house there has a Papaya tree just as they have Coconut trees. As kids, we used to eat semi ripe papaya spiced up with tamarind, red chili powder, sugar and salt...a kind of a papaya salsa. Very potent on the weak stomachs.

Last month, I spent $5 (or was it $7?) to get a green papaya at the farmer's market, much to my parent's amusement who immediately converted it into rupees and started relating stories of them having to give away papayas back home and concluded that I have no sense.
Well at least this time, it wasn't half rotten as is most times that I get it at the market. Nothing is more expensive than nostalgic foods! (This curry was made by my mom at my request and I am just posting it now.)
My fellow blogger friend Bharathy has kindly given me these awesome papaya tree photos to add to the post..Thanks a lot!



You will need:
1/2 Green (Raw) Papaya
Green Chilies-5 slit vertically
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Red Chili Powder-1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Coconut-1/2 cup grated

Seasoning:
Oil-1 tbsp
Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp
Curry leaves- a sprig

Scrape away the skin of the papaya, remove seeds and wash thoroughly.Cut the papaya into small pieces. Cook it in 2 cups water (double the quantity of cut papaya)with the green chilies, salt, turmeric and red chili powder at medium heat. Adjust the turmeric and red chili powder as needed to get the required color and spice level.

In about 10 minutes, the papaya would be soft and it turns transparent when it is cooked. Grind the grated coconut with 2 tablespoon water to a very fine paste. Lower the heat, add the ground coconut and let it come to an almost boil. Remove from the stove top.

Seasoning: Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan. After a minute, lower the heat and add the mustard seeds and cover till it finishes spluttering. Now add the curry leaves and when it is fried, pour the seasoning over the curry.

27 comments:

Bong Mom said...

Aiyyoooooooo...how did I ever miss your last post. A big Hug and Congrats. I AM SO VERY HAPPY FOR YOU, that I am writing in all CAPS :)
How are you, and how many months is the baby now, is it a he or a she ?
How is the older one ?

lots and lots of love for the kiddo and the baby

Finla said...

5 dollar for papaya. I hope u enjoyed till the last portion.
So the baby is giving u free time for blogging.

Priya said...

I missed your previous post too and have been wondering why you were not blogging as usual, while You have been having a wonderful time with your bundle of joy all this while...Congratulations!!

remya said...

delicious papaya curry...i havent seen green papaya here...sounds yumm

Mandira said...

shaheen, you are so right about nostalgic food... I bought a papaya from whole foods a few months back for curry too ;) How is your daughter doing?

Unknown said...

yummy...i like pappaya thoran ,curry anything with pappaya...cant wait to try this!

Anonymous said...

There you go! Let all those mom's food come to blog. Our famers market has papaya too, but they never look good. So I haven't bought any yet. You are right about every house having a papaya tree back home. The one at my grandma's house used to give tons of fruits, enough to feed the whole neighborhood, and all the crows in the neighborhood too. :)

Pravs said...

Congrats! How is the newborn baby? missed reading your previous post.
Love curry with unripe papaya. Bring on all the yummy recipes your mom cooked :)

indosungod said...

Shaheen, glad that the little one is giving mommy time to update her blog! I am not big papaya fan but the curry looks delicious, how does green tomatoes sound?

Rachna said...

hey love kapalanga in any form.... will def try this!!

Anonymous said...

when u put it like this, our humble
papaya curry -which my mom makes,when out of option sounds grand.....
looking forward to more sizzling nos by aunty
lov
ki

Shivapriya said...

Yeah I have seen green papaya in farmers mkt and it was very expensive. But it the end it worth right:). Curry looks simply superb, especially with a touch of mom love n cooking. So how are ur sleepless nights coming along??.

Shilpa said...

Ohh Shaheen..I had missed your last post too....

Congratulations for the new member in the family. I am so happy for u. Enjoy...

Nat said...

Hi Shaheen,
I'm going to try this one simply bcos it would be a new one in our household!
Thanks for dropping by my blog and your kind words. You know what? I'll dedicate that post to you since yours was the first blog I EVER chanced upon and imagine my delight when I saw our hometowns were the same. I'm the same person who used to sign off as Nitu in your comments section before I started my own blog.
Going home in another 3 weeks, I'll introduce this dish to my mom too. So far we were only eating pukka papaya - fruit form!
One last q - how come you've never blogged about chattipathiri? Or did I miss it? Love that dish.

Shah cooks said...

sandeepa, thanks for the warm hug..bet u are seeing the snow outside now..the baby is a she and is now 2months plus old.

Happy cook, i did enjoy it all the way. will soon blog another recipe from the rest of the papaya.:)

priya, thanks alot. it is indeed a wonderful time. care to join the gang?

remya, if u like very nadan kerala food, u would like this curry.

mandira, the little gal is fine, thanks for asking.. now i am curious as to how u made the curry.do blog or have u already blogged abt it?

chitra, saw ur blog..welcome to blogging and i am sure u will have similar stuff to blog.:)

rp, hmm.. not just crows.. in my house one non stop rain and some of the trees in the sensitive portion of the backyard used to come down so it had to be harvested promptly!

pravs, thanks.u must have this curry.. do u have anything to add to papaya recipes?

indo. a bit of blogging..green tomatoes may be fine. do try.or u could even make this with bottle gourd or ash gourd.

ki, u are right..it is a humble curry.. so u can imagine my mom's amusement!but now so far away from nadu, it looks more appealing than KFC!can u add to my collection with some of urs?

shivpriya, sleepless nights are routine now..since i am home, it s ok.can walk around like a zombie the whole day!

shilpa, thanks alot for the wishes!

nitu.. now i know u..:) lucky gal going home.. do take some pictures and blog soon.thanks a lot for the dedication! u write nicely!

rachna,thanks.. i was wondering what is was called in mal.

VINI said...

Hey CONGRATS!!!! Enjoying ur time with the li'l one right? what a coincidence...I made raw papaya "pulinkari" on the same day :).

Bharathy said...

OMG!..250 bucks(indian money)for a green papaya!!!!!Thatz too much..when we get it all fresh and free right from the backyards in Kerala!!!
I too posted the stir fry with this veg very recently...do visit when time permits..

Hope the little one is fine :)

Pravs said...

Yes, i have a papaya curry posted long back..begining stages of blogging..not any great pics. But a yummy curry i make all the time.
Here is the link http://simplyspicy.blogspot.com/2006/10/papaya-curry.html

Anonymous said...

Really nice looking curry.
And so simple to make.i sure am goin to make this.
i am always in the look out for new EASY curries to go with the after noon rice.
thanks
safia

J said...

I was wondering why you quit your job, so how is your new boss doing?? :) Love and hugs to you and the baby?

Sagari said...

delecious curry very new recipe for me

KonkaniBlogger said...

Hi there,

Nice blog u have here..I have a papaya lying in the fridge for sometime n fint knw what to do with it..Now, I know :)

Viji said...

Packed with Vitamin A and other nutrients. Very nice. Hope your little daughter is doing well. Take care. Viji

Bharathy said...

:D

KayKat said...

Hey, you owe us baby pictures! :)

This looks delicious, green is the only way I want my papaya, *have* to try this out!

Mini Alex said...

The curry came out well--I added 2 whole red chillies too for seasoning--good receipe

Anonymous said...

Hi Shaheen,

Can this curry be given to a mother a few days (7 days) after delivery?

-- Latha