Pickled Chillies Stuffed With Shredded Papaya

Lately I have been looking out for side dishes recipes from Korean  to Baba Nyonya cuisine.  It is hobby to surf the internet for new inspiration...life for me is just too short so I want to try out recipes which I have never tried.  Pickled chillies with shredded papaya as stuffing is one example of Baba Nyonya cuisine and I have tried this only once and this was many years ago.  My grandma's relative who is also my very distant relatives came visiting and brought this in a bottle for us.  I was twelve years old and my grandma allowed me to try it...haha she thought that I will stop at one bite but who knows I ended up walloping two stuffed chillies :p  yea I am a hot stuff ! * wink 

Why I suddenly wanted to make this appetizer...okay, my neighbor who lives opposite gave me two homegrown papayas from his garden.  One was ripe and the other was still very green. I kept it for two days , it was still green.  Thus, this made me decide to use the green papaya for this recipe. I googled for this Baba Nyonya cuisine and found the recipe from this blog  ' To Indulge Oneself.... "  and by the time , I was ready to start making this appetizer, I realised the papaya was a step nearer to be on the ripe stage though the flesh was still firm.  I shredded it and dry in the sun for a few hours, though the recipe called for sunning for a day :p  This involved a bit of work but the end result is a bottle of finger licking good pickled chilllies with shredded papaya stuffing !  Yumm!

for a start, I use only 15 pieces of green chillies

the shredded papaya looks more orangey because of the 

fresh turmeric I used while stir frying them :)

not easy to stuff them but it was fun okay....

arranging them in the bottles takes skill too...but I ended up

just throwing them in :p

pickled them for 3 days and they tasted good

almost like the one I ate when I was 12 yrs old

I want to make this again !

Pickled Chillies Stuffed With Shredded Papaya - adapted from To Indulge Oneself

2    medium sized green papaya
15  large green chillies
100 g shallots ,slice
100 g garlics, slice
20   g ginger, shredded
20   g turmeric, shredded
50 g dried prawns, soaked and pounded
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
seasoning
2 tbsp vinegar
15g sugar
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt
pickling solution
150g sugar
250 ml vinegar
250 ml water
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt or taste

Preparation

1. Peel and shred papaya.  Dry in the sun for 1 day.

2. Wash and drain the chillies.  Make a slit in the chillies and scrape away the seeds and set aside.

3. Heat up half of the oil and fry the dried prawns, ginger and turmeric until fragrant.  Add in papaya and stir in seasoning.  Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Remove and let cool.  

4. While waiting for the papaya to be cooled, prepare the pickle solution by heating up the remaining of the oil, add pickling solution and bring to just a simmering boil.

5. Stuff the papaya mixture into the slit chillies.  Arrange stuffed chillies, shallots and garlics in a suitable glass ware. Pour over with pickling solution.  Make sure that the chillies are completely covered by the solution.  Allow to pickle for 2 days before consuming.  It keeps well for about 3 days at room temperature and can be kept in the refrigerator for about 1 week.

Enjoy !