Ripe Papaya and Avocado Salad with Black Salt Dressing

Sweet ripe papaya, creamy avocado, juicy cherry tomatoes dressed in sweet and tangy black salt honey lemon dressing, served over bed of peppery arugula or your favorite green! Whenever I can find some sweet ripe papaya, this lite and healthy salad is often on my dinner table.

Inspired from Indian Ripe Papaya Chat, this salad pairs some out-of-ordinary flavors and every note just sings in mouth of a salad-lover. Lemon and Avocado are best flavor-combo already... so are honey-lemon and papaya. Plus peppery arugula and black salt brings everything together!

Also, just 10 minutes start to finish, this is scrumptious way to enjoy three serving of veggies and one and half serving of fruit. How good does that sound? Isn't it this salad perfect to push for control-your-diet-this-new-year goal? :)

Speaking of which, do you believe we are just 4 days away from welcoming year 2016!!?? Honestly I can't believe!! Year 2015 just came and gone so quickly!

In past few months, holiday foods has sure added few pounds to my weight. :( It is really hard to resist eating when serving good food. Isn't it? Sometimes I think, even tasting the food I cook makes me fatter! ;) Can you relate too?

Good thing is, I love salads and I'm all set to enjoy more salads in coming new year. I'm not very good at maintaining holiday resolutions. :) So no new year resolutions planned as of now... Even though I really looking forward to eat more healthier. Let's see how it's goes. You will be the first one to know all about my diet plans. promise!

Back to Papaya Salad :)

On the contrary to commonly eaten raw papaya salads, I have mostly had ripe papaya all my life. In India, Raw papaya is only used in curies or pickled to make side-dish for curry-main-course. Ripe papaya is often eaten at home as fruit after dinner or is added in salads. Every papaya season, many street vendors would sell ripe papaya fruit chat dressed in black salt and lemon dressing. Inspired from same, my version of papaya salad has fruits and veggies for a more balanced lunch salad or side dinner salad.

On of my favorite thing about Papaya and Avocado Salad is contrast of flavors - sweetness of papaya, creamy avocado, peppery arugula, tart cherry tomatoes, crunch of juicy pom seeds, and the sweet, lemony and salty dressing on top. Every bite of this salad sings in mouth! See, such salads are proof - Health can be tasty!

Black salt is a kind of rock salt and is very common in Indian cooking. It has somewhat pungent and sharp salty taste, is very rich in minerals, is not refined and helps in digestion too. A little bit of black salt goes a long way. So for it's digestion qualities and sharp taste, it is often added in dressing for rich and creamy fruits/veggies like ripe papaya, sweet potato, banana, and even potatoes. If you can't find black salt, feel free to use pink salt for this dressing.

Diet Info:

Just so you know, this salad is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and has good serving of omega-3s and anti-oxidants too. Get some papaya home this week and enjoy some scrumptious papaya salad! 

Wish you a great rest of the weekend! - Savita