Day: June 14, 2007

It’s been a long day……so just a short post for tonight!

Lately, it seems that the Missus can’t get enough Papaya Salad, She has consumed the equivalent of 5 large green papayas over the last 2 weeks, sometimes having Papaya Salad twice a day!

This means that the "heavy artillery", our large mortar and pestle gets put to good use. The recipe itself is quite easy, and based on the recipe in David Thompson’s wonderful book Thai Food. I’ve varied the ingredients somewhat, mainly because the Missus and I have very different tastes when it comes to Papaya Salad. The Missus likes a lot of lime and fish sauce, and less sweet, with a ton of long beans. I enjoy mine a bit sweeter, with pungent garlic overtones and lots of tomato. Once you make it you’ll be able to adjust the recipe for your taste quite easily. Oh, and watch those Thai Bird Chilies, they vary from batch to batch! Oh yes, and on shredding the Papaya…the Missus insisted that my mandolin did not adequately shred the papaya, so I ended up going to the local Vietnamese Market and picked up a $1.99 plastic papaya shredder. She swears that She can tell the difference!

Green Papaya Salad

1-4 Cloves Garlic
2-4 Thai Bird Chilies
1 Tb Roasted Peanuts
2 Tb Dried Shrimp
2 Quarter Slices Lime
8-10 Cherry Tomatoes Cut in Half
4 Long Beans(aka Chinese Long Beans) Cut into 1/2" Lengths
3 Cups Shredded Green Papaya
1-3 Tb Palm Sugar
Juice of 1/2 lime(or more)
2-4 Tb Fish Sauce(we use Tiparos)

Pound Garlic, Chilies, Palm Sugar(works better for us this way) in a mortar.

Add peanuts and shrimp, and pound into a very coarse "paste".

Add lime and mash. Add tomato and long beans and pound gently until bruised.

Add fish sauce and lime juice and mix. Taste, and adjust seasonings.

Serve with cabbage wedges.

So easy!!!!

For me the ingredient that "makes" this Papaya Salad "tick" is the Palm Sugar. I think it adds a more complex sweetness to the dish.

It could be just me…….

Palm Sugar can be really hard like rock, and a bit difficult to separate and portion. But David Thompson, and the one and only Chez Pim have solved that problem.