Naturally, when we think of papaya salad, we think of the sweetness of papaya and thereby assume this salad to be sweet. Contrarily, it’s also a savory dish. That’s because the papayas added are not yet ripe which means they are missing their characteristic tangy flavor. Crisp and firm, unripe papaya can even be a little crunchy. Some variants of papaya salad will actually eliminate the papaya altogether and in its place, use cucumber, green and unripe mango, banana, santol, banana flower, Malay gooseberry, pomelo, mu yo sausage, or mixed fruit.
Some of the most popular secondary ingredients which work well in a papaya salad include asparagus beans, a wide variety of crab, chili peppers, dried shrimp, garlic, hog plums, shrimp paste, raw Thai eggplant, and tomatoes. In many varieties, papaya salad is served alongside grilled chicken and rice. It’s not uncommon to pair it with some raw vegetables on the side, as a means of offsetting the spicy nature of the dish. Despite the variants, in its original form, papaya salad is consistently ranked by sites like CNN as one of the ‘world’s 50 most delicious foods’.
Now how healthy is Thai-style papaya salad – unsurprisingly quite. Papaya itself is an amazing source of vitamins C and B, folate, flavonoids, potassium, magnesium, and carotenes. When consumed, papaya also has digestion-friendly enzymes and a mix of healthy fiber. Then, alongside, the papaya in this salad, there’s all the spiciness. The peppers utilized in Thai papaya salad are filled with capsaicin which is a fine metabolism booster. Needless to say, a big bowl of this stuff prepped is filled with all sorts of nutritional value.
As if all this wasn’t enough, the calorie count on papaya salad isn’t too bad either. 1 serving of papaya salad is roughly 125 calories spread across 70 percent carbs, 18 percent fats, and 12 percent protein. Unripe papaya also has some interesting weight loss benefits. The enzyme ‘papain’ has antioxidants, is itself a diuretic, and the papaya fruit itself is not going to pack on the pounds. All things considered, it’s going to fill you up, help with detoxification, and burn fat. Anyone trying to keep their weight down and controlled, papaya salad is a tasty guilt-free salad you can pull from.
Are you looking for papaya salad in Toronto? Get it from Toronto Pho. Specializing in East Asian cooking, papaya salad is an underrated menu item we felt was worth sharing a little about in this article. Grab a bowl for yourself and take in the nutrition today from Toronto Pho.
