Bali is bliss. It’s not hard to believe we’ve already been here for a couple weeks, as I’ve clearly sunken into a new, slower rhythm and just allowing the days to unfold at their languid pace. I haven’t been this relaxed in…well, I can’t even remember when to be honest. It feels amazing to not have a schedule to follow, to not have any major deadlines looming, no calls to answer. I’ve had to travel halfway across planet earth to find this solace, but I also don’t mind being surrounded by tropical jungle, dazzling green rice fields, rivers, and volcanoes, and sparkling starry skies.
Bali has a kind of beauty to it, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. It is rich, mesmeric, mysterious. Everywhere you go, you are greeted with wafts of burning incense, floral offerings, and the sounds of flowing water. Spirituality and everyday life are intertwined, and god seems to be truly in the details.
The food? As wonderful as it is to eat at restaurants (don’t do much of that in Copenhagen), I’ve actually been cooking a lot. Surprise! We’ve rented a house with a rather makeshift, but functioning kitchen, and the one-burner hot plate and I have become well acquainted during my experiments with all of the local produce. My family and I head out around 7am to the morning market, and for pennies fill our bags with all sorts of unusual fruits and veggies, then head home to play with it all.
The other groovy thing about where we are staying is the front yard full of fruit trees and coconut palms. There are papaya growing – no, bulging – off of their trunks. Fruit larger then my six-month-old baby (and he’s a big boy). The housekeeper picked one for me upon my request and it sat ripening on my counter for a couple days until I knew it was time. Total. Bliss-fest. You couldn’t take me to the fanciest restaurant and see me more excited than eating that silly, homegrown papaya. Truly.
As much as papaya is perfect all on its own, the flavours around me beg to be enjoyed. This was a simple breakfast I tossed together with fresh ingredients I had just picked up at the market: kaffir lime, ginger, and freshly grated coconut (wow, nothing like it!). It is all together sweet, citric, spicy and rich – a delicious combination for starting your day on the right foot, or maybe an afternoon pick-me-up.
Papaya Paradise Party
Papaya are buttery, rich, satisfying, and a delicious taste of the tropics, but are available in most grocery stores throughout the year.
Papayas contain a cornucopia of nutrients, its most unique being papain. Papain is a digestive enzyme that helps digest proteins, similar to the bromelain found in pineapple. If you take digestive supplements, yours will likely contain papain.
Papaya is rich in antioxdants, such as carotenes, vitamin C and flavanoids, folic and pantothenic acid, as well as the minerals copper, potassium and magnesium. These nutrients all add up to major cardiovascular protection, due to their ability to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol. Papaya’s vitamins, minerals and antioxidants also provide immune support, promote digestive health, and protect against macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis.
Much like bananas, papaya contains a substance called chitinase, which is associated with the latex-fruit allergy syndrome. If you have a latex allergy, you should avoid eating papaya (and banana too).
If you cannot find kaffir limes, regular lime would be fine of course. Kaffir limes tend to be smaller, so if you are using regular lime, just one would likely be enough for the recipe below. And if you can’t get yourself to a Balinese market and have someone grind your coconut for you this morning, no worries, just use shredded desiccated coconut in its place. You can even lightly toast it if your heart desires.
The recipe for this salad is rather loose. I’ve added some rough measurements, but the dressing here depends greatly on the size of your papaya, so just use the ingredients below as a guideline and make the dish to suit your taste. If you like a more citric flavour, go heavy on the limejuice; if you like it spicy, add more ginger, etc. I also drizzled in some local virgin coconut oil, which had the most incredible coconut taste, but this is entirely up to you. Keep in mind that the fat in the coconut and coconut oil will only help in absorbing the carotenes in the papaya.
Bali Bliss Papaya Salad
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
1 large papaya (mine was approx. 2lbs / 1kg)
½ cup freshly grated or unsweetened desiccated coconut
1-2 organic limes
2-3 tsp. finely minced ginger, to taste
pinch sea salt
2 tsp. honey, to taste (or any liquid sweetener)
1 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil, melted (optional)
Directions:
1. Rinse the papaya well. Slice through the entire fruit lengthwise, the scoop out the seeds. Cut off both ends from each half. Stand one of the halves on its flat end and slice off the skin starting at the top and running down to the base. Repeat with other half. Next slice the papaya across into 1-inch sections, and then into 1-inch cubes. Place in a large bowl.
2. Rinse the lime and zest it with a microplane or box grater on the finest setting. Whisk together the ginger, lime zest, lime juice, honey, and salt. Add the coconut oil, if desired. Pour dressing over the papaya just before serving, add desiccated coconut, and fold gently to combine. Enjoy immediately.
I served the salad with some sliced bananas on the side, and garnished with lime halves.
This salad is just a little warm-up here – I thought a slow work up to the more complicated and technique-intensive dishes I plan on making would be best. For now, it’s time to just relax and enjoy the simple and blissful flavours of Bali, unwind, breathe. Find a corner of your home to curl up with this dish, light a stick of incense and drift away on a papaya cloud…I’ll meet you in paradise.
This papaua salad looks so beautiful. It shoukd be tasty and healthy as well. Thank you for sharing. I must to try this!
Awe… reminds me of India!! SO delicious – love this recipe idea. Thank You for sharing 🙂
Amazing recipe! this looks delicious and very healthy. And I want to make one for my family. Thanks for sharing. Let me also share something, I also follow one website which talks about vegan food and fitness, http://www.bodybyblasian.com/
take care!
You can actually eat the black seeds of the papaya, they’re super peppery in flavor and highly nutritious. Most people just toss them in the garbage, but I use them to make a vegan Caesar dressing… Just throw the seeds in the blender with all your other ingredients 🙂
This sounds and looks divine. I loved Bali.
I’m studying in Singapore right now and am very interested in Bali (and “cooking” with all of this beautiful local produce!). Thank you for posting this salad! It’s very beautiful, and I really want to try coconut, papaya, and banana together now~. Sadly, honey is extremely expensive here. Did you look at the prices in Bali? It’s medicine instead of food, and it costs roughly SGD60 for a jar. But the variety and flavors are incredible! At least they knew how to keep it raw and unfiltered.
While I have a latex allergy, I can actually eat both papaya and ripe bananas (especially organic, which tends to have less chitinase). However, I cannot, under any circumstances, eat avocado. Do you have any suggestions for chitinase-intolerant people like me in a world of avocado everything? I could eat it cooked, but that seems like a shame. I haven’t found a good substitute yet.
Would love to visit Bali can you suggest a place I should vis it first? I’m looking for peace meditation and admiring nature’s beauty! Luxury isn’t important just clean and comfort,
Thank you your blog is special so glad I found it!
Hi, I am Indonesian who lives in Germany and Saudi Arabia. Me and my family visit Bali quite regularly. Best place to enjoy the real Bali is UBUD – the LOVE part in the famous book EAT, PRAY, LOVE. Ubud is a remarkable mountain town which is more than a century popular for its fine art, dance, music, and mystics. Of course there are other plenty beautiful places in Bali, but Ubud the best place to use as a base to picture how Bali really is. Culture, comfort, love, nature, and inspiration are only some words to describe about Ubud. Ubud is a haven for artists, bohemians and cosmic seekers. Try to explore the inner UBUD instead of just roaming around the busy downtown. That’s where you find the authentic Balinese life style. Go cycling passing the tea plantation and paddy fields or take a walk in villages. If you go in certain months you might be lucky to witness Baliness procession on the way. Hope you have a chance to visit.
Mia that sounds wonderful please send me info and pics!
Sarah – some blog posts are just too achingly lovely and inspiring and wonderful to read all at once… your Bali updates are really unbearably lovely. I’m so happy to have found you through my sister M. Thanks for sharing the joy you take in all around you with such ease and elegance.
Found your blog and love it. I am actually going to Bali at the end of June and am so excited. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Your pictures are gorgeous!
I just made this salad, added some turmeric to the dressing, just on a whim. Enjoyed it on my deck in – finally sunny eastern Canada. I swear, my maples looked like palm trees while I ate the salad! Thanks!
Wow..it’s very tasty and I loved it……Thank you..
Hello Sarah,
I wanted to let you know that I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award.
Participation is optional, but if you do want to participate here is the link to find out more: http://kookycookyng.com/2014/05/14/versatile-blogger-award/
Hope you decide to take part. If you choose to participate then post the award badge on your blog, share seven things about yourself and nominate 15 other bloggers.
Cheers
Ishita
Do you surf? Bali is supposed to have great waves. I love papaya but it is so hard to find good ones in the states, at least on the east coast (I was spoiled by Hawaii). It’s difficult to tell which ones will be duds, in my experience. Any tips?
I can taste the flavors on my tongue. I think make this for breakfast tomorrow
Bali Bliss Papaya Salad is the most important Salad in the world. I taken many times and will take.
Thank you
Mmm the papaya looks amazing! I totally get the waiting for them to be perfectly ripened 🙂 I ate tons and tons of papaya in Puerto Rico last year but you have rekindled my love. Too bad I’m not in Bali to taste the fruit right off the tree 😉 I’ll have to head to the local grocer to pick one up. Bali is definitely on my list & you are obviously you’re having a fabulous time – enjoy the relaxation!
~M
Lovely! Looks pretty too. I will make this for sure, even though I’m not in Bali!
The people of Bali are as wonderful and nurturing as the land and food.
Your Bali salad reminds me of the breakfast I had at my little hotel every morning, sitting in a garden of tropical flowers, a stream flowing in the gully below.
Sometimes it is necessary to put some distance between yourself and your every day surroundings to recharge. We are in Normandy this week for the same reasons and although the scenery, food and weather is very different from Bali, the effect is similar 🙂 Have a great time with your family!
The photos are simply amazing, look forward to more. I am for sure going to make this, my mouth is watering just looking at it. Enjoy and thank you for sharing your solitude:))
Bali is indeed an incredible place but for those who can’t afford a trip to Bali and who are searching to find a place where time is no issue, where you can live in and with nature, where silence and peace is key, do come to my place in Andalucia (Spain) where I rent cave houses. You can’t imagine how peaceful it is here, we have an a-location with a stunning view on the mountains, the village, the wood. You can walk or bike for hours without meeting a living soul except maybe the pastor with his sheeps and goats. There is a natural swimming pool where you can swim amongst the fishes and there is much more. Interested? Cueva Don Pablo in Orce. I have no website but I’ll send all info and pictures upon request.
Hi Mia, yes! sou nds very interesting! please send info! Thx
Yes please do send info Mia!
Your time in Bali sounds amazing and your fruit salad is beautiful. I love your recipes. My boyfriend is officially addicted to your recipe for “Genius Chic Pea Tofu” – I love it! My arms get a workout when I make it too 🙂
Mia,
sounds fascinating.
please send pictures and info.
Dear Mia, I’d also love to receive pictures and info of Cueva Don Pablo. Sounds very good indeed! Thanks a lot.
I’m so jealous, I’ve always wanted to go to Bali! I hope you and your family have an incredible trip! (And indeed, it sounds as though you already are!)
This salad looks simply wonderful and your photos are stunning! 🙂 It’s been a very long time since I’ve had papaya but this recipe has me craving it.
Such a simple pairing but one that I know it so much more than the sum of its parts, as your recipes usually are. I can almost taste the flavors in this gorgeous bowl of goodness. Love hearing about your time in Bali. Enjoy it all!
You are all love!!!!!
Bali is on my bucket list and you’ve totally just confirmed that to me! Enjoy your time there, it sounds amazing. This salad looks so refreshing and simple. Thank you and I’m sharing, for sure.
Beautiful photos that have inspired me to visit Bali one day. And this salad looks so delicious! Enjoy your time in paradise 🙂