Vietnamese Green Papaya Salad & Beef Jerky (Gỏi Đu Đủ Khô Bò Recipe)

This is a quick and easy 3 ingredient spinach salad (Goi* Du Du Kho Bo recipe) you can put together in just a few minutes. There’s no cooking involved simply a quick prep, for you to get started eating your snack.

Beef jerky and green papaya salad can be a refreshing snack that is great to serve as a snack or an appetizer. My mom that she used to purchase this at food stands in Vietnam. Students would crowd the food carts in the lunch hour. It was popular due to its low cost and delicious taste even though they didn’t consume enough beef jerky like in the picture above.

This appetizer is available in some Vietnamese restaurants, however it’s simple enough to prepare at home. I love this recipe and also the vegetarian version as well.

Du du is also known by another name (papaya)

If you don’t know Vietnamese it could be weird experience when someone asks you to eat du du. But it’s only papaya! My family has a joke based on the same concept: when they have unappetizing papaya, it’s usually named di di which is exactly what you think that du du was.

How do I purchase green papaya?

The green papaya can be described as the raw version of orange papaya which you are likely to see on American markets. The process of buying green papaya is straightforward. Fresh ones are green, smooth and soft and a firm sensation. Older papayas will not be as shiny and the flesh is somewhat soft, which isn’t what we need.

The green papaya won’t ripen when you leave it to rest for too long. It’s picked in green and intended to be eaten raw so if you leave it too long, it’ll go downwards.

I purchased this papaya at an local Indian market at $1.50 per pound. This is around the same as the ripe papaya. It is sometimes available at as little as $0.80 for a pound. In the off-season, the taste of green papaya is around 80 percent, and it’s available for twice the price.

This is readily available on Southeast Asian markets. Vietnamese is a good option however, Thai and Lao people are known to eat raw green papaya in this way, and you could try it at the markets in those countries too.

The image above shows what’s inside a papaya, with the tiny seeds removed. My mom recently gifted me a new slicer which she, along with a few of aunties have been raving about. The model shown in the photo above can be described as an Benriner Japan Mandoline Slicer. My mom has used this exact model for more than 20 years, dating all the way to the time she worked in a restaurant and it’s remains better that the Swissmar slicer I’ve used for years.

It slices through papaya green like butter. It’s sharp enough that a couple of my aunties have given the mandoline slicers away due to anxiety about cutting their own fingers. This is absurd, perhaps because they aren’t aware that you can simply put the gloves on and put them over cutting-proof gloves and you’re set. You can put on both gloves as well as the guard for cutting if you would like however there’s no reason not to use mandoline slicers completely! If you own an boxed grated it is possible to make use of this.

Green papaya salad in different countries

The Vietnamese salad is believed to have been developed in Laos However, it is well-known across various other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Cambodia. There are many variations of this dish that exist, and some even substitute the papaya in exchange for other fruits like banana flowers pomelo, cucumber and even green mango.

There’s a well-known Vietnamese variation of green mango salad that includes shrimp, too (recipe to be announced very soon! ).

American beef Jerky

If you’re in the vicinity of an Vietnamese area, the simplest way to locate the exact Jerky needed for this recipe is at Vietnamese supermarkets. Certain take-out food establishments close to me in the Los Angeles’ Little Saigon also carry this. It’s usually consumed in beer-based snacks or to be served with nhau.

Another location to find it is in the Chinese-Vietnamese shops which sell preserved food items. The stores’ layouts are like American stores for taffy, with massive barrels that are side-by-side and covering every inch of the flooring. You’ll want the dry, red-ish one. There’s also a sticky version and a curry-based version of beef jerky. They’re tasty, but they’re not what you’re looking for in this salad.

If you do not have Viet stores in the area, there is a variety of beef Jerky that Costco offers also. The flavor is great however, the jerky sheets are quite thick, and you could cut them thinner to reduce the thickness. The Chinese/Vietnamese version is available in pre-cut pieces, and comes with an a little sweeter flavor.

If you’re looking for more salad recipes, go to this green goddess salad, Vietnamese mango salad (goi xoai), Gỏi mực – Vietnamese squid salad.