Papaya Pickle

One of my favourites... and this recipe comes from the experience of eating too much pickled stuff!

Ingredients :
1 green papaya (about 1.2-1.5kg)
100-150ml white vinegar (Do get better ones, as this is for consumption)
250-300g sugar
8-10 seedless sour plums, cut to smaller pieces
20-25 cili padi (deseeded and sliced)
1 tbsp salt

Method :

Peel the papaya, cut off the part with the stump. Halve the papaya lengthwise, and deseed, using a tablespoon. Halve the papaya lengthwise again and cut into slices of about 2-3mm thick. Place in a casserole dish with cover or a glass jar with lid.

Add the salt and mix well. Stand for 5 minutes.

Add the vinegar, sugar, sour plum and cili padi and mix well. Sample the mixture, as more vinegar or sugar may be needed, depending on you. Once you are satisfied with the taste, cover the dish/bottle and put in the refrigerator.

You can start to eat the pickle after about 8 hours. Works very well as an appetizer.

Do make sure that the papaya is very raw and green, so that after pickling, it would not be too soft, and would have the crunchiness when you bite into it.