Salad PAPAYA AND CHAYOTE TROPICAL SALAD Refreshing strips of chayote add just the right crunch to this colorful salad. If you see an unfamiliar tropical fruit, check the helpful "how-tos" attached/ "how-to" links to show how to prepare it. INGREDIENTS: 2 Solo papayas 2 chayotes 1 Uniq fruit, segmented 1 large red onion, chopped 1/2 tsp salt 1" fresh ginger, about 1 tbs grated 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar 1/2 tbs Italian dressing 1/4 cup olive oil Yield: 6 servings DIRECTIONS: 1. Peel and chop the Solo papayas. (See page 2 for a quick and easy way to chop up a Solo papaya.) 2. Peel and cut the chayotes into juilenne strips. (See page 3 for a quick and easy way to chop up a chayote.) 3. Peel the Uniq Fruit, take off as much white as possible. Pull into sections. Cut sections into thirds. 4. Mix fruit, onion and salt in a large bowl. 5. Peel about 1" of a ginger hand. Grate. (See page 4 for a quick and easy way to prepare ginger.) 6. In a small bowl, combine ginger, vinegar, water, Italian dressing and oil. 7. Add to chayote mixture and toss to combine. 8. Refrigerate covered for 1 hour before serving. 9. Toss again before serving.
STEP 1 Cut the bottom off. Enough to stabilize the fruit for the next step. STEP 6 With a large spoon, scoop out seeds and white parts from each half of the Solo. Slice the peel off using a downward motion of the knife. STEP 7 The Solo should look like this when the seeds are scooped out. TOOLS NEEDED Sharp Knife Cutting Board Serving Spoon STEP 3 Turn the Solo on its side and trim any remaining peel at the bottom. STEP 8 Scoop under the Solo, while putting the blade of the knife on top. Use to flip the Solo half over. STEP 4 Cut the top off. About 1 to 2 inches in. STEP 9 Slice lengthwise. STEP 5 Slice the Solo in half vertically. STEP 10 If desired, chop horizontally for cubes or pieces.
Peeling (optional) STEP 1 Chayote's skin often has a sticky sap, which may irritate your hands. To peel off the fruit's skin, use a vegetable peeler while wearing protective gloves or peel the fruit under running water. Peel the chayote like you would an apple. Don't worry about getting the peeler into the chayote's "crevice." You'll take off that skin in step 5. Chayote's skin is often left unpeeled. Cooking eliminates any of the irritating sap. Chopping or slicing the chayote TOOLS NEEDED Vegetable Peeler Sharp Knife Cutting Board STEP 1 Slice a small piece from the top. The top is opposite from the "crevice" or large wrinkle found in most fruit. STEP 4 If desired, slice the inside of the "crevice" at an angle to remove any skin. Use the sliced area as a level bottom to stand the chayote. STEP 3 Positioning the knife in the large "crevice" or wrinkle, slice the chayote in two. STEP 5 Remove the seed - optional. Cut the halves into quarters. Using a paring knife, cut around the seed to remove. STEP 6 Cut or chop as desired.
Fresh ginger how-tos Fresh ginger is easy to work with once you know the ropes, or should I say hands. Ginger is cut into fan-shaped chunks that are called hands. Taste test Fresh ginger will deliver a more intense flavor than dried, powdered ginger. Try it. You'll see why you don't substitute one for the other. There's another reason why.* You don't get the health benefits of fresh ginger when using dried, powdered ginger. While you're at it, get out that store-bought minced ginger jar in the refrigerator. Taste processed minced ginger next to fresh. Fresh has a notable fresher, lighter taste and doesn't have the preservatives required to keep it stored in a jar on the grocery store shelf for months. How to use fresh ginger Medallions - For recipes whose first step is heating up oil (Asian stir-fry for example), medallions of ginger are a quick and easy way to flavor the dish with ginger. Leave the skin on and just slice into 1/4? thick circles or medallions. Add to the oil being heated. The ginger medallions will flavor the oil and eventually the recipe. Before adding any other ingredients take the ginger medallions out. Minced ginger - Most recipes call for minced ginger which is fresh ginger finely grated. It's easy to determine how much ginger to use for a recipe. You'll get about 2 tbs of minced ginger for every 1 inch squared piece of fresh ginger. For 2 tbs of minced ginger, I use my thumb's width and length (to the knuckle) to determine where to break off the piece for the recipe. But don't break off the ginger piece just yet. Let's say you want 2 tbs of minced ginger. Lay the ginger on the countertop or hold the ginger in your hand, use a vegetable peeler or back of a spoon to scrape off ginger's skin for the 1"x 1" area you want. Ginger's skin is very paper-like and isn't hard to peel. Get most of the skin off. They'll be some nooks and crannies you can't get into with the 1? piece still on the ginger hand. That's when you break the piece you want off. Then peel off whatever skin remains. Use a small grater or micro planer to mince the ginger. To prevent scraped knuckles, I use the holder from a mandoline (the one spikes on one side to hold the veggie and a comfortable handle on the other side, to protect my hands). Storing Store ginger hands in your refrigerator or freezer. Just wrap in plastic to avoid ginger drying out. If storing in the refrigerator, wrap in moist paper towels before covering with plastic. Ginger will stay in the refrigerator up to three weeks and up to three months in the freezer. Substitutions? Yes, you can use fresh ginger for crystalized ginger, just add sugar with the fresh ginger.
Replace a 1/2 cup of crystallized ginger with 2 tbs fresh ginger and 2 tbs sugar. Chop the fresh ginger coarsely to resemble the shape of the crystallized version. *Don't replaced fresh ginger with the dried ginger spice. Fresh ginger's gingerol converts to shogaol and zingerone. Ginger spice not only tastes different, but loses the health benefits that it's known for. Shogaol and zinerone have not been found to have any medicinal benefit.