Young Papaya Salad with Peanut Sauce

In Bali, fruit salad or rujak (assorted fruits with sweet sour sauce) is commonplace. Many food stalls, either at villages or traditional markets offer this item. Other than raw fruits, some of them may also prefer the ripe ones, like papaya. As fresh fruit, papaya is sufficiently good for our digestive system, the more so when we are having fever. This fruit is virtually available all year around as it is supported by modern agricultural techniques. It is extensively cultivated and planted for versatile self-consumption by local people at their backyard garden.
Sometimes, this papaya can be served as vegetable as well. However, it should be selected from its younger fruit. Balinese people make it into lawar (traditional dish with minced meat) as alternative of young coconut shell, star fruit leaf, string beans and the like. Other vegetable made from this fruit is the young papaya salad with peanut sauce. Its coarsely grated or finely sliced flesh is boiled until done (to taste, perhaps one likes it slightly crispy). As a mixture, it can be added with string beans. Having boiled, it is served with peanut sauce with sweet ketchup. (BTN/029)