Serves 2 | 0 mins cooking | 20 mins preparation

Green papaya salad is a spicy salad made from shredded unripe papaya. Originating from the Lao people, it is also eaten throughout Southeast Asia and known locally in Thailand as Som Tam

More pictures will be added to the post when I take some next time I make this

Ingredients

• 1/2 Green papaya – peeled and shredded
• 1 Carrot shredded
• 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1 – 10 birds eye chillies (depending how spicy you like it, I go for 3-4 if serving to someone else, 7 if just for me)
• 1 1/2 tbsp Palm sugar (just regular white if you don’t)
• 2 yard-long beans (or green beans), cut in 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces
• 4 cherry tomatoes – halved
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce

Method

1. Coarsely grind the garlic and chilies in a pestle and mortar.
2. Add the palm sugar, beans and tomatoes and lightly pound to combine, then add the lime juice and fish sauce and lightly pound again
3. Add the papaya and carrot to a bowl and add the dressing, mix well and when serving sprinkle over the nuts

Notes

Their are lots of varieties of this where you can add dried shrimp or crab for example

If you don’t have green papaya then you can make similar with other vegetables, e.g. use a cucumber with the seeds removed and shredded.