First of all what is atsara? Atsara is a Tagalog term referring to a popular Filipino dish made from unripe papaya. It is called "pickle" in English. This menu is often served as a side dish for fried or grilled foods such as pork barbecue and lechon.

Since we have a papaya tree in our backyard, it's so easy to make atsara and it’s FREE. Depending on the amount of finished product desired, making atsara can take from 30 minutes to an hour. The most time-consuming part would be grating the papaya into bits.

To make a serving that is good for five people, you only have to spend 30 pesos. The ingredients are the following:

• 1 Unripe papaya
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 Carrot
• 2 Red bell pepper
• 1 Ginger
• 2 Onions
• 3 Garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon salt

Procedures:

1. Peel the papaya, remove the seeds and cut the papaya into four slices (Only two slices are shown in this photo.).

2. When you finish peeling, grate the papaya by using a cheese grater.

3. After that, add 1/2 tablespoon of salt and squeeze the grated papaya using your bare, clean hands.

4. Then put the grated papaya on the strainer  and pour hot water until it is half cook.

5. While waiting for the grated papaya to cool, peel and slice all the spices like carrot, onions, garlic, ginger, and red bell pepper.

6. On a pan, pour 1/2 cup of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of sugar and let them simmer for 3 minutes.

7. After the above, put all the spices and mix them well, together with the boiled vinegar with sugar a while ago. You can also add cooked string beans, eggplant and raisins if you like.

8. Let it cool and put the mixture inside a plastic container or in a bottle with wide brim and put it in the refrigerator.

 

9. Done!

Thanks for reading. ^_^