Refreshing Papaya Millet Salad
I had half a papaya left from the other day and needed to find a way to use it. I liked the quinoa salad that I had made so much that I decided to revisit it, while making a few minor changes.
I thought coconut would be a great addition, as well as dried figs. I just looooove their distinctive crunch and thought they would work well with the papaya seeds.
Also, this time, I chose to use millet instead of quinoa and I made a nice bed of arugula to lay everything on.
All good calls! This one was equally good, if not better than the last. On a side note, I find millet to be a lot more satisfying than quinoa when it comes to filling me up. For some reason, quinoa just doesn’t seem to ever get that done. I could eat a whole cup to myself and still feel somewhat unsatisfied… whereas I don’t think I could eat a half cup of millet (well, ok, except maybe for warm cereal, but that, I can never get too much of, so it doesn’t count!)
Ingredients
(serves 3-4)
Millet (this needs to be cold, so you might want to cook it the night before)
- 1 cup millet
- 2 cups water
- ½ tsp salt
Salad
- 3 green onions, chopped
- ½ papaya, peeled, seeded and diced (save the seeds!!!)
- 25g roasted pecans, chopped
- 25g raw pumpkin seeds
- 20g unsweetened grated coconut
- 4-5 dried figs, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 20 mint leaves, chopped
- 125g arugula leaves
Dressing
- Seeds form half papaya (keep a few teaspoons to garnish)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- The juice and zest of ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tbsp liquid honey
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 tbsp water
- Pinch hot pepper flakes
Instructions
- Rinse millet thoroughly in a fine mesh strainer. Put millet, salt and water in small saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until all water is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes then remove lid and fluff with a fork. Allow to cool for a little while then refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Mix all the ingredients of the salad in a large mixing bowl, except arugula. Set aside.
- In a small food processor, purée all the ingredients of the dressing and mix into reserved salad. Stir to combine.
- Arrange the arugula leaves in the plates. Lay cold millet on top of arugula, creating a nest for papaya salad. Mound papaya on top of cold millet and garnish with whole papaya seeds if desired.