Green Papaya Salad
This green papaya salad is based on the Cambodian bok lahong recipe. You can make it with dried shrimp, shrimp paste, prahok (fermented fish), or pickled crabs.
Equipment
- 1 Mortar and pestle (Affiliate link) — Traditionally, a clay mortar and wooden pestle is used (this is what we have). A stone or wooden mortar works well, too, as long as it's deep.
- 1 Vegetable peeler optional
- food processor optional to Mortar and pestle
Ingredients
Papaya salad base ingredients
- 2 cloves Garlic
- to taste Chilli pepper Thai chilli or bird's eye chilli as a substitution
- 1 handful Grape tomatoes Cherry tomatoes are an alternative
- ½ pound Long beans (also known as snake beans) Green beans will do as an alternative
- ½ Green papaya Must be unripe
- ½ Carrot Medium-sized
- 1 tablespoon Roasted peanuts
- 5-6 leaves Thai basil Substitute with regular basil and cilantro
Papaya salad dressing ingredients
- 1 tablespoon
Fish sauce (affiliate link) - 1 lime Lime juice Tamarind paste can be an addition or a substitution to achieve the zest
- 1 teaspoon Sugar Palm sugar is traditionally used — it gives the dressing a caramel flavour; however, white sugar works just fine.
- 1 teaspoon
MSG (affiliate link)
Variation #1 — If you want a papaya salad with kapi (shrimp paste) and dried shrimp
- 2 tablespoons
Dried shrimp (affiliate link) - ½ teaspoon
Shrimp paste (affiliate link) Firm, Thai shrimp paste — like the one at this link — works best
Variation #2 — If you want a papaya salad with prahok (fermented fish paste)
- 1 tablespoon Prahok Vietnamese version, known as Mam Ca Sac Xay, is most available outside of Southeast Asia.
- 1 cup water
Optional for Variation #1 and Variation #2
- 4 Pickled crabs Recipe coming soon!
Instructions
- Wash and peel the papaya, get rid of the seeds.½ Green papaya
- Wash and peel the carrot, then cut it in half.½ Carrot
- Wash the tomatoes, long beans, Thai basil leaves, and limes, and set aside.1 handful Grape tomatoes, ½ pound Long beans (also known as snake beans), 5-6 leaves Thai basil, 1 lime Lime juice
- Shred or grate the papaya1 coarsely.½ Green papaya
- Grate ½ of the carrot coarsely and mix with the shredded papaya.½ Carrot
- IF you're adding prahok to the papaya salad, mix the prahok with a cup of water, then bring the mixture to a boil in a small pot. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes and set aside.1 tablespoon Prahok, 1 cup water
- Place the chillies and garlic into the mortar and pound them with the pestle until achieving a paste-like consistency.2 cloves Garlic, to taste Chilli pepper
- Add the peanuts to the mortar, and pound them with the pestle.1 tablespoon Roasted peanuts
- Break the long beans into 2-inch pieces, add to the mortar, then pound lightly with the pestle to bruise the beans.½ pound Long beans (also known as snake beans)
- Half the grape (or cherry) tomatoes, add them to the mortar, and bruise gently with the pestle.1 handful Grape tomatoes
- IF you're adding dried shrimp to the papaya salad, do so now and pound the ingredients inside the mortar gently with the pestle.2 tablespoons Dried shrimp (affiliate link)
- Spinkle the sugar and MSG over the mixture in the mortar.1 teaspoon MSG (affiliate link), 1 teaspoon Sugar
- Add fish sauce to the mortar.1 tablespoon Fish sauce (affiliate link)
- Squeeze
the juice from a lime into the mortar, and mix everything together with a large spoon.1 lime Lime juice
- IF you're making this papaya salad with prahok, add the prahok sauce to the mortar now.1 tablespoon Prahok
- IF you're making this green papaya salad with kapi (shrimp paste) instead of prahok, add the paste to the mortar now.½ teaspoon Shrimp paste (affiliate link)
- IF you're adding pickled crab to the papaya salad, do so now.4 Pickled crabs
- Place the shredded papaya and carrots into the mortar.½ Green papaya, ½ Carrot
- Continue to pound the salad with the pestle while you toss the ingredients at the same time with a spoon. Take care to strike the pestle against the mortar's sides, not the center.
- Taste the papaya salad and, IF needed, add more seasonings to the mix.
- Transfer the salad to a small bowl and serve.
Notes
Note 1: Traditionally, people in Cambodia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries prepare papaya salad using these two different techniques and tools:
Using this peeler to slice papaya for a salad is a breeze; it works just like a julienne peeler:
- Strike and shave with a knife. This method makes the salad crunchier as the papaya shreds are larger. However, it's an easy way to cut yourself if you've never cut fruit in this manner; and, if you're inexperienced, hand-cutting the papaya will take a long time. Here are the steps for shredding the papaya with a knife:
- Hold the peeled papaya with one hand (non-dominant), then strike the papaya lengthwise with a sharp knife, making parallel cuts as you do so.
- Turn the knife perpendicularly and "shave" the cuts to shred the fruit. Instead, you can simply use a grater, as we've suggested in our recipe.
- Use a suitable papaya slicer. Julienne peelers are not ideal, as they shred the papaya into pieces that are far too small, so that the salad becomes mushy whereas it should be crispy. In Southeast Asia, quality slicers are widely available, but in North America and elsewhere around the world, they're not easy to find. We're using this Kiwi brand papaya slicer (affiliate link)we got from Amazon; it's made in Thailand and works perfectly.
Using this peeler to slice papaya for a salad is a breeze; it works just like a julienne peeler:
Nutrition
Calories: 250kcalCarbohydrates: 93.9gProtein: 12.4gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 0.7gSodium: 1592mgFiber: 3.9gSugar: 38.3g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!