Paradise and Papayas

As my year continues of travel and adventure, the opportunity to return to Hawaii has been added to the list. So, here I am writing from the place many like to call Paradise, but where I called home for almost seven years. It is a pleasure to be back surrounded by beauty, mystical culture and some of my favorite foods...avocados, apple bananas, guava, passionfruit, and papaya to name a few! Today I discovered a new local farm stand right down from where I am staying that is filled with character and delicious, fresh Hawaiian delicacies. Auntie (that is how you call older women here), who ended up being a darn good sales woman, helped me pick out the freshest goodies for the weekend cooking that I was planning on doing. Local odd shaped tomatoes, firm green beans, mixed sprouts, beautiful basil, elongated stems of cilantro, large leaf spinach, apple bananas, Molokai papaya, cucumber, and funny looking bright yellow cherry tomatoes filled my basket. Auntie stopped me when I was picking up the tiny bag of yellow tomatoes to say "let me go pick some more off da tree, yea" and took off into the field wearing her apron and mud boots and followed by a trail of colorful, laughing hens. When she came back I asked if she had any mint or parsley and she replied "of course, try wait, and I go pick some for you." Now, it doesn't get any fresher than that!

Happy with my new find and armed with a gigantic bag of fresh, local produce I headed back to the house ready to cook. It was a warm, sunny day in upcountry Maui and I felt the need for a cool lunch so I decided on a hearty salad with homemade papaya seed dressing. In most of the world, the autumn brings cool weather and the desire for warming foods, but not here in Hawaii. so many of you may not try some of these recipes until next summer when your body will want cool foods again.

I have never made papaya seed dressing before, so I surfed the Internet for recipe ideas and found quite a few variations. I decided to just get creative and use what I had on hand to make up my own version. The result, a light and refreshing slightly tangy, fruity dressing that I thoroughly enjoyed. Here is my recipe:

Papaya Seed Dressing - yields about 1/2 cup

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon onion
1/2 of a papaya's seeds
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
5 mint leaves
splash of chardonnay vinegar
salt to taste

Put all in a blender and blend until seeds look like pepper flecks. Cover and refrigerate or serve immediately if your really hungry. After this first batch I decided to add 1/4 cup plain yogurt to it to make it a creamy papaya seed dressing. Equally as delicious.

Remember, in cooking you can be creative, so play with this recipe and try out new combinations. Add lime or orange juice instead of lemon, or use raspberry vinegar instead. Many recipes for the dressing called for mustard and tarragon, which I did not have on hand, but plan on trying another time. Have fun with it and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Next blog I will suggest ideas of what to do with the actual papaya meat if you didn't already devour its juicy flesh.