green papaya — Recipes

Thai papaya salad. Shred the unripe papaya in long thins strips and put these in cold water for 15 minutes. Then all you need to memorise is the dressing:

4 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp fermented fish sauce
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tps chilli powder
1 tbsp chilli paste

Fresh:
Garlic
Cilantro
Shallot
Red Chilli.

Above quantity for 2-3 people, I divided everything in two for one person. Save some dressing as a dipping sauce for other side dishes, like boiled meat.

First mix the sugar with lime until dissolved. Ten add the rest. I didn’t have Thai or Laos fermented fish sauce but I did have pickled krill Hanoi style. Krill are tiny shrimp. This has about the same intoxicating smell as fermented fish sauce, so it as a great substitute. The pickled krill is more concentrated and I used less than 5 table spoons. For the chili paste I used Thai chili paste with soya bean oil, which worked just fine. You can be flexible in making the dressing as long as you know the taste of the substitutes. “Normal” fish sauce is no substitute for fermented fish sauce!

For the papaya salade you will need some steamed shrimp and/or octopus, freshly fried peanuts, and before serving you mix in fresh shallot, cilantro, lemons grass (soft part) and more red chili, sliced. Serve with sticky rice. The dressing can also be used as a dipping sauce for anything you like.