Green Papaya Raw Beauty Salad

 This green papaya salad was one of my first raw recipes inspired by Juliano Brotman who stared me and my sister on a raw food journey. The flavours in the salad are so fresh with the herbs, spices and juices creating a beautiful dance on your taste buds.

The raw beauty of this salad is that it incorporates several superstar anti-ageing ingredients. These include vitamin C which is abundant in papaya and capsicum, AHA's which are found in citrus fruits and fatty acids which are found in avocado and sesame oil. Combined these ingredients enhance skin repair and renewal, collagen production and skin hydration and plumpness.

The benefit of papaya also lies in its wonderful digestive enhancing abilities. Green papaya contains natural enzymes called papain and chymopapain that assists with digestion. The enzyme levels decline as the fruit ripens so eating the green version will be of greater benefit for you than the red ripe version we are most used to. Green papayas are also great for cleansing the colon and for alleviating constipation.

Makes about three to four large serves

Ingredients
1 green papaya, finely grated
2 carrots, finely grated
2 cucumbers peeled and grated
1 red capsicum, julienned
1 yellow capsicum, julienned
1 green mango, sliced thinly
1 avocado, diced
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
Juice of 1 orange or blood orange
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon garam marsala
1 tablespoon olive oil or sesame oil
1 tablespoon tamari sauce

Instructions

1. Assemble all the sliced veggies
2. Add lime and orange juices into the salad. Now incorporate the garam marsala, kaffir lime leaves, ginger, olive oil and tamari. Mix well to incorporate.
3. Allow flavours to incorporate for a minimum of two to three hours.

Tips

• Green papaya is simply an unripe papaya. You can find green papaya in food and grocery stores as well as Asian markets. They look a little bit like a green football. Try to find a hard, green papaya -- if the exterior peel of the papaya is yellowing, it will be too sweet and soft inside. The interior flesh should be white to pale yellow in colour depending on its stage of ripeness.
• Preparing the papaya is easy, don’t let its shape daunt you. Green papaya must be peeled before eating. You can simply use a carrot peeler for this if you like. Once you have peeled the papaya, you want to shred the white-yellow interior just until you get to the flesh surrounding the seeds (this will sometimes be a soft pink colour) again depending on the fruit's stage of ripeness. You can also slice the papaya in two, remove the seeds and then shred both halves –I personally find this way easier.
• Do not worry if you have left overs of this salad. It keeps perfectly in the fridge. In fact the flavours develop intensely overnight.