BELLY DOG

Sorry for the hiatus, but there has not been much going on lately and I put myself on a shopping ban for the month of August (which I have broken by now.. haha). I have been missing Chicago a whole lot.. finding myself craving mainly one thing late at night: The Belly Dog from Belly Shack. After a long search for green papaya at the grocery store, I finally came upon a small hard green papaya the other day. I bought it and immediately made some green papaya salad. I definitely have no idea how to make it the traditional way, which I think involves dried shrimps (which I do not have in my kitchen), so this is my take on it.

• Shred/julienne green papaya (I am lucky enough to have a peeler that on one end is a peeler and on the other end it is able to shred things so nicely and thinly) into long thin strips. Salt it to remove excess liquid -- this gives them a nice crunch.
• I also added some carrot strips. I imagine you could add cucumber or daikon as well if you'd like.
• Vinaigrette: fish sauce (to your liking), finely chopped jalapeno, lime juice, sugar. Mix until sugar is dissolved. I really wish I added some fresh herbs (cilantro, basil & mint) in here. Next time!
• Rinse papaya of extra salt (3 times usually does the trick).
• Transfer everything into a tupperware & mix well, kinda pounding on the papaya to get the flavors in there. Store in fridge and try not to eat it all at one time. :)

On to the dog..

Ingredients: hot dog (I used all beef ones), buns, papaya salad, sriracha (which goes on the bun underneath the dog)

VERDICT: yea this was a pretty tasty hot dog but it was still nowhere near as delicious at the Belly Dog. I know I left out the bed of crispy egg noodles that the true Belly Dog has underneath their hot dog and I have a feeling that their dog is one made of pork and not beef. I also cut my dogs in half and then cooked them in a pan with some canola oil, whereas the Belly dog had their hot dog whole. My dog was also way smaller in size in comparison to the real thing, so that is why.. I ate 3 of them. Haha! Don't judge me! I've been craving this for 2 months now, so it definitely hit the spot. But I know that next time I'm in Chicago, I'm gonna be hitting up Belly Shack first.

-J