Green Papaya Salad

It has been a week since I posted last - YIKES!

This was an instant hit the other night when I made it. My SIL has made it before for DH and me, but it was never safe for the kids. I am including the full recipe and making notes on where I changed things.

This is the recipe pretty much as written from http://www.thaitable.com/

Green Papaya Salad

1 1/2 tablespoons palm sugar (normal sugar can be substituted - but you may need to add a little more

3/4 of a lime

2 cups green papaya, shredded

6 green beans

1 clove garlic

1 1/2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon dried shrimp (left this out)

2 thai chili peppers (used less than was called for)

5 cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons peanuts, toasted

Tips and substitutions from http://www.thaitable.com/ : For a vegetarian som tum, omit the dried shrimp and substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. Some people use tamarind in place of lime. Regular sugar can be substituted for palm sugar. The balance of fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and peppers listed here are guidelines.

About Green Papaya: Many Asian supermarkets have shredded green papaya. However, if you can only find whole green papaya, the papaya can be peeled and shredded using a regular cheese grater with medium to large sized holes. When you get closer to the center, you will see the white immature seeds inside. Stop and move onto another part of the papaya. Discard any seeds that got into your bowl.

In Thailand, green papaya salad is made using a clay mortar, wooden pestle and a spatula. Smash a clove of garlic first. Then add green beans and halved cherry tomatoes. Pound a few times just to bruise the beans and get the juice out of the tomatoes. Add chili peppers and crush them just enough to release the hotness, unless you like your salad really hot. Add the green papaya, dried shrimp, toasted peanuts, fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar. Use the pestle to push the mixture up in the mortar and the spatula to push it down so that the mixture is mixed well.

However, if you do not have a big enough mortar you can crush garlic, tomatoes, green beans. Set them aside in a large bowl. Add dried shrimp, fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar to the bowl. Add green papaya and mix well. Serve with sticky rice and a sliver of cabbage, green beans and Thai basil.