• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Devour.Asia

Devour.Asia

Connie Veneracion explores Asian food, history and culture

  • Tea
  • Kitchen Tales
    • Pantry Staples
    • Kitchen Tools
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Food Trivia
  • Food Tales
  • Travel Tales
  • Search

  • All Recipes
    • Chinese
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Taiwanese
    • Thai
    • Vietnamese
    • Asian Fusion
    • Instant Noodles (Ramen)
  • Tea
  • Kitchen Tales
    • Pantry Staples
    • Kitchen Tools
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Food Trivia
  • Food Tales
  • Travel Tales
  • Pop Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
  • All Recipes
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Taiwanese
  • Thai
  • Vietnamese
  • Fusion
You are here: Home / All Recipes / Vietnamese-style Papaya and Mango Salad

Vietnamese-style Papaya and Mango Salad

Connie Veneracion
Semi-ripe papaya, cucumber, mango, lettuce, toasted cashew nuts and sesame seeds are tossed with a light dressing to make Vietnamese-style papaya and mango salad.
It's inspired by one of the dishes we made in the farm-to-table cooking class in Vietnam. When we were prepping the salad in class, our instructor reminded us that there's nothing strict about the mix of ingredients. We could substitute green mangoes for the papaya, for instance, or add other vegetables. This is the result of those reminders.
Vietnamese-style Papaya and Mango Salad Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 5 mins
Total Time 15 mins
Course Salad
Cuisine Vietnamese
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

For the dressing

  • 1 and 1/2 tablespoons calamansi juice (or lemon or lime juice), freshly squeezed
  • 1 and 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 generous pinch minced garlic
  • 1 generous pinch finely chopped chili

For the salad

  • 1/4 cup chopped nuts (peanuts are more traditional but I used cashew)
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
  • 1/2 semi-ripe papaya
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 ripe mango
  • 1 handful lettuce

Instructions
 

Make the dressing

  • Place all the ingredients for the dressing in a small jar with a screw-on cap. Put on the cap and tighten. Shake the contents gently until the sugar is fully dissolved. Sat aside to infuse.

Toast the nuts and sesame seeds

  • Heat a frying pan. Spread the cashew nuts and toast, tossing the pan occasionally, until lightly browned.
  • Add the sesame seeds to the nuts and continue toasting until both nuts and sesame seeds are nicely browned. Set aside to cool.

Prep the fruits and veggies

  • Peel the papaya. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Thinly slice the papaya flesh then cut the thin slices into strips no more than a quarter of an inch wide.
    Remi-ripe Papaya for Vietnamese-style Papaya and Mango Salad
  • Split the cucumber into halves. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Cut in the same way you cut the papaya.
    Julienned Cucumber for Vietnamese-style Papaya and Mango Salad
  • Cut the mango and discard the stone. Score both “cheeks” thinly then separate the strips by scooping our shallowly with a spoon.
    Cutting a Fresh Mango for Vietnamese-style Papaya and Mango Salad
  • Rinse the lettuce. Dry in a salad spinner. Cut the leaves into half-inch slices.

Assemble the salad

  • Place the papaya, cucumber, mango, lettuce and half of the nuts and sesame seeds in a mixing bowl.
  • Drizzle in half of the dressing and toss lightly but thoroughly.
  • Taste. Add the rest of the dressing, if you prefer.
  • Divide the salad among four bowls or plates. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
Keyword Salad
Looking for Filipino food?Visit CASA Veneracion for modern twists on favorite classics!

If you cooked this dish (or made this drink) and you want to share your masterpiece, please use your own photos and write the cooking steps in your own words.

Vietnamese-style Papaya and Mango Salad
More Vietnamese food
Duck Curry Noodle Soup Recipe

Duck Curry Noodle Soup: Memories of Bún Cà Ri in Saigon

Vietnamese Beef Stew recipe

Vietnamese Beef Stew

Home Cooked Vietnamese Pork and Pineapple Stir Fry (Muc Xao Khom)

Vietnamese Pork and Pineapple Stir Fry (Muc Xao Khom)

Inside my Asian kitchen

Ripe avocado

Avocados: how to tell when they are ripe and how to hasten ripening

Burger with lettuce and tomatoes

How to Make Uniformly-sized and Shaped Burgers

Pouring coconut cream into a pot to make Thai chicken coconut soup

Essential Ingredients for Tom Kha Gai

Asian food tales

Lechon for lunch at the hacienda, Cadiz City

7 Days of the Best Negrense Food in Bacolod and Cadiz

Hot tea with mint leaves and wedge of lemon

Does Drinking Hot Tea During Meals Help Fight Obesity?

Bulawan Floating Restaurant

Bulawan Floating Restaurant

Explore Asia

Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand

An Afternoon at Phuket’s Patong Beach

There are many legends about Mount Mayon and all of them are based on a tragic romance. They all agree too that the name “Mayon” came from “daragang magayon” or beautiful maiden.

The Legend of Mount Mayon

100-yen stores rock

Osaka: 5 Lessons in 10 Photos

March 14, 2019 : All Recipes, Asian Fusion
Previous Post: « Saigon's Street Food Man A Walking Tour with Saigon’s Street Food Man
Next Post: How to Cook, Lesson 6: Intermediate Cooking Methods Chinese braised pork hock »

Sidebar

Asian Pop Tales

Scene from Samurai Gourmet | Image credit: Netflix

“Samurai Gourmet”

Scene from “3 Idiots” | Image credit: Reliance BIG Pictures

Must See: “3 Idiots”

Scene from “The Lunchbox” Image credit: Sony Pictures Classics

“The Lunchbox”: When a 100-year-old Lunch Delivery System Goes Wrong

  • About
  • Privacy & Usage
  • Full Archive

Everything © Connie Veneracion. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.