(4 Servings)
So we kick of a month dedicated to Thai food with this fresh and vibrant green papaya salad. If you live in NYC and wonder where you can get raw green Papaya, the answer is Chinatown, Hong Kong supermarket. I found there all the ingredients for some of the other dishes we will be featuring this month as well (Panang duck curry – Yes hold your horses! It’s coming soon!!)
Ingredients:
- 1 unripe green papaya
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
- 4-5 tablespoon fish sauce
- 4 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 12 cherry tomatoes chopped
- ½ pound green beans
- 2 fresh red or green chilies split lengthwise and deseeded
- Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
Coarsely chop garlic & peanuts and add to a mixing bowl. Add the split chilies and tomatoes to the mix along with salt and sugar and mix well. Cut the green beans in 1 ½ inch lengths and quickly flash fry (2 minutes) and add to the bowl.
Peel and coarsely shred papaya, discarding the seeds and inner membrane. Refer to the video for instructions. I found this method to shred the papaya very effective and quick. I would like to think that’s how they do it in restaurant kitchens 🙂 At the end of the process you should have around 4 to 5 cups of shredded papaya.
Add the papaya to the bowl along with the lime juice and fish sauce and mix thoroughly. If a mortar pestle is available you can use this instead of a bowl to lightly pound the mix and extract some juice. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Set aside for an hour or two.
Serve in a bowl or plate topped with peanuts and cilantro.
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