Cooking Papaya Flowers From The Garden

There are always parts of plants that can be used to make food as a daily food source. Including, from the papaya plant.

---

Papaya plants grow and bear fruit without season in my area. They also often grow wild from seeds that are thrown away. And, it's all a blessing. Most parts of the papaya plant can be used as a food source. Starting from sweet ripe papaya fruit, young papaya which is used as a side dish, also young papaya leaves and papaya flowers.

This time I will invite you to see how I use fresh papaya flowers to cook as side dishes. I get papaya flowers straight from the garden.

Papaya flower dish is a local food that I have known and eaten since I was little. Especially people who live on the edge of the village often make this side dish to serve with rice.

In the past, I have also posted about cooking papaya flowers. but that was the non-spicy version. Meanwhile, in this post I will make a spicy version. Stay tuned!

---

---

---

Picking Up Papaya Flowers

You know, I was visiting my garden during the day to get some fresh air. I was immediately excited when I saw there were papaya flowers on a papaya tree. So, I will make a dish from those fresh sources and show it to you!

For your information, the papaya flowers that are usually used as dishes are the male papaya flowers which cannot develop into papaya fruit. That's why we are used to making papaya flowers as vegetables because the male flowers will be wasted if they are not picked.

In this photo, there is a papaya plant that is bearing fruit and it is of course the female papaya type. You can see the different types of flowers from there. Male flowers do not bloom as big as female papaya flowers.

---

I picked from a papaya tree that looked like it had an extra stem. That's because the top of the papaya tree had been cut so that it grew additional branches. The top of the papaya tree which has young papaya leaves is usually used as boiled papaya leaves for salad with grated coconut.

---

Before picking papaya flowers, I made a container to place those papaya flowers from dried banana leaves. Then, I started picking papaya flowers and holding the flowers in the container.

Papaya flowers fill my banana leave container. They looked so fresh and I couldn't wait to cook them for dinner that day.

Apart from taking papaya flowers, I also took guava leaves to complement cooking those papaya flowers.

We have a tradition to add guava leaves when boiling papaya flowers to reduce the bitter taste of those flowers.

Well, the taste of papaya flowers is dominantly bitter. But with the following methods, we can reduce the bitter taste. Like squeezing them with salt, also boiling them with guava leaves.

---

---

---

THE INGREDIENTS

• 3 handfuls of fresh papaya flowers
• 5 guava leaves
• 3 tablespoons salt for squeezing papaya flowers
• 1 tablespoon salt for boiling papaya flowers

complementary

• 1 cup of diced tempeh
• 1 cup of diced tofu
• 5 small cloves of red onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• (optional) red chilies
• a thumb-sized flattened ginger
• 1 lemongrass stalk, cut into two parts and flattened
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

---

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

---

PREPARE PAPAYA FLOWERS

Before cooking papaya flowers further, we have to prepare the papaya flowers first to reduce the bitter taste.

---

---

First, we have to remove the small stem at the base of the flowers. These stems will make the cooking results more bitter.

---

After removing the small stems, take 3 tablespoons of salt, then mix it evenly with the papaya flowers. Squeeze the papaya flowers until the salt sticks evenly. Leave it for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, wash the papaya flowers until there is no feeling of sap if you hold them with your hands.

---

---

---

---

BOIL PAPAYA FLOWERS

---

---

Boil water, then boil papaya flowers together with 5 guava leaves and one tablespoon of salt. Cook for five minutes. Then drain.

Boiled papaya flowers that have been drained are ready to be used in various cooking mixtures, according to taste.

---

---

---

CREATE CHILI PASTE

Make chili and onion paste. I used a traditional pounder so that the chili flakes texture is still visible here. This is no problem. You can also use a blender.

---

---

---

FRY TEMPEH AND TOFU

---

---

Fry tempeh and tofu until golden brown then drain them. You guys also usually roast them.

---

---

---

MIX TOFU, TEMPEH, AND FLOWERS TOGETHER

---

---

After the tofu and tempeh have finished frying, stir-fry the chili paste first. Add flattened ginger, flattened lemongrass, and bay leaves. Once the chili paste looks wilted, add tofu, tempeh, and papaya flowers. Mix well for a while until mixed well. Don't forget to add salt. Then, remove them.

---

---

---

SERVING WAYS

---

---

Serve spicy papaya flowers with rice, or potatoes. With my husband and I's habit of eating this type of dish since childhood, we are used to eating papaya flowers without being bothered by the slight bitter taste.

Well, the slightly bitter taste is similar to bitter melon. If you get used to it, it's no problem. And that's just about culture. I'm happy to be able to share about a local thing that I usually make for side dishes from the garden.

❤️❤️❤️ See you, Veggie Lovers!

---

---

---

Thank you for reading my blog and reblog if you want my blog this time worthy of reading by others.

---

---

---

Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari

---