A papaya menu will be one that will display a lot of creativity with food and flavor.  An extremely healthy fruit, papayas are utilized in cooking in all sorts of cuisines. You can use it to make a stew, a curry, icecream, cakes, etc.  There is really no limit to the number of dishes you can cook up with this amazing fruit.  Here are some fantastic papaya menu dishes which should be a joy to cook in the kitchen as well.

Grilled Macadamia Crusted Tuna with Papaya Salsa 

This would be a fantastic dish to feature on a papaya menu as you are combining an appetizing fish recipe with the yummy goodness of a papaya salsa. Making the papaya salsa is as easy as pie, simply mix some diced papaya, onion, and red peppers in a bowl. Add coriander leaves, lime juice, garlic, and hot chili paste. Toss to mingle, then refrigerate until ready to serve. You can even substitute the macadamia nuts for chopped pecans and the chili paste for jalapenos.

Chicken Papaya Stew

This is a popular Filipino dish. It requires boneless skinless pieces of chicken. The kind of papaya to be used is the green kind. You will need to visit an Asian market to get this sort of papaya. The seeds inside should be pure white and the flesh a very pale green.  You will need chili leaves which may be a little hard to get your hands on but you can use the frozen variety.  Other than that Spinach is suggested.  If you do use spinach (about 2 cups) just stir it in and immediately take off the heat. This dish is quite uncommon and will enchant the people who eat it.

Papaya Coconut Curry

When most people think of curries, they gravitate to those that include meat and seafood. But this vegetarian Papaya Coconut Curry is so easy to make, yet tastes so intricate and wonderful, that it will require some restraint to not eat the whole thing standing in front of the stove. Most of the ingredients come straight from a well-stocked pantry, however, a good papaya from a farmers market or local produce stand is worth the effort. While you can serve this curry with any rice or noodle, it goes mostly well with short-grain brown rice; the nuttiness of the rice enhances the freshness of the papaya.

Papaya Lime Quinoa

This is an extremely healthy recipe. Quinoa is a seed, not a grain and packed with protein.  Its texture is akin to couscous. It is ideal for vegetarians because of its myriad health benefits. Cook some quinoa separately. Now throw in the diced papaya, mint, and chilies and mix well. In another bowl, mix the juice from the lime with the olive oil and season to taste. Decant over the quinoa and mix well before serving. You can use some freshly chopped cilantro and red chili peppers to garnish this dish. 

Hope you have fun cooking all these great dishes featured in this papaya menu. Not very many people know that the black seeds are safe to eat and have a sharp, spicy taste. They are at times ground and used as a substitute for black pepper.If you are looking for more papaya menu ideas, here are some more recipe ideas.

Image credits – ifood.tv