Thailand Menu
Green Papaya Salad
This salad is popular in Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as in Thailand.
The tiny pieces of fresh raw chili pepper in this salad provide crisp bursts of heat. For the green chili I recommend jalapeño, for the red chili, Fresno is best. Jalapeños get mushy when they turn red, but Fresno chilies stay crisp. They’re pointier than jalapeños and wide at the top.
Sambal oelek is puréed red serrano chili with a little bit of vinegar. Serranos are hotter than jalapeños. Palm sugar and palm vinegar are made from the sap of the coconut palm. This dish won’t be nearly as good if you use cane sugar and distilled vinegar. All of these ingredients can be found at any Southeast Asian grocery store.
- 1 clove Garlic
- 2 teaspoons Palm Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Sambal Oelek
- 4 Tablespoons freshly squeezed Lime Juice
- 4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
- 2 cups shredded Unripe Papaya
- 1 cup shredded Carrot
- ½ cup thinly sliced Shallots, marinated in Palm Vinegar
- ½ pound shredded cooked Chicken or Pork or cooked whole Prawns
- 1 fresh Green Chili, seeded and cut into tiny pieces
- 1 fresh Red Chili, seeded and cut into tiny pieces
- 2 Tablespoons chopped Cilantro
- 2 Tablespoons chopped Mint
The dressing
Pound the garlic and palm sugar in a mortar and pestle until reduced to a paste. Mix in the sambal oelek, then the lime juice, and then fish sauce, adding one ingredient at a time. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle you could use a blender, but the sauce will come out frothy. This sauce is a universal seasoning in Southeast Asia, it is often served as a condiment at the dinner table.
The salad
You can shred the unripe papaya in a food processor, but the traditional method is cut it up into match sticks which are pounded until soft in a mortar and pestle. If you use a food processor or a grater pounding in unnecessary. Mix the papaya, carrots, drained shallots, and chicken, pork or prawns. Toss in the chilies, cilantro and mint. Add as much dressing as you like and toss again. This salad is often served with shrimp chips.
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