Papaya Salad
Papaya Salad
Papaya salad originated from Laos, but is eaten in many Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each country has their own variation of the recipe; some containing crab, Thai eggplant, mango, unripened banana, apples, cucumbers to name a few. Papaya salad is always served with sticky glutinous rice.I first had papaya salad in high school in my Chinese class. A classmate of mine brought it in. I believe this was the first Thai food that I had eaten at the time. Sweet and spicy with a sort of funk to the flavor; that coming from the fish sauce and shrimp paste. You can adjust the heat levels to your liking by adding more or less Thai chilies.You can usually find fresh green papaya already shredded at most Asian markets. They sell it at mine for only $3.99lb. If you can’t find it already shredded, you’re going to have to do that at home. I happen to have a grating attachment on my food processor, so it took a whole 15 seconds to grate to whole papaya. You can also use a regular grater if you don’t have a food processor. The goal is to have the papaya simulate noodles. The long beans add a nice crunch to the salad.
Ingredients
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 Thai chilies finely chopped
- 3 tbsp palm sugar
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3/4 tsp shrimp paste
- 1/4 cup dried shrimp chopped
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 lb green papaya shredded
- 4 oz long beans cut into 2” pieces
- 4 oz cherry or grape tomatoes halved
- 3 tbsp peanuts chopped
Instructions
- Mix together the garlic, chilies, fish sauce, palm sugar, shrimp paste, dried shrimp, and lime juice. Make sure the palm sugar is completely dissolved.
- Add in the shredded green papaya and long beans. Toss in the dressing.
- Add in the tomatoes and peanuts, tossing in the salad.
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