Spicy Lao Papaya Salad

Submitted by Chef #1471265

"This is a Lao Papaya Salad Recipe. With this recipe, you can interchange the green papaya with cucumber, longbeans, mangos, etc. This dish goes great with grilled meat and sticky rice. Hope you enjoy."

 

• Ready In: 7mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 2-3

ingredients

• 2 cups papayas (shredded)
• 5 -8 cherry tomatoes
• 2 lime wedges
• 5 -9 Thai chiles
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon shrimp paste
• 1⁄4 teaspoon crab, paste
• 1 -2 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste (optional)
• 1⁄8 teaspoon msg (optional) or 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 2 teaspoons fermented fish sauce (pa-dak -optional)

directions

1. Shred green papaya (it makes it really juicy!).
2. Using a large Mortar and Pestle, pound the garlic, peppers, shrimp paste, crab paste, and 1/2 tablespoon of sugar.
3. Half the tomatoes and add to the mortar and pestle along with the half of the cucumber.
4. Pound and mix the contents of the mortar and pestle.
5. Add the rest of the papaya, sugar, fish sauce, msg (optional), pa-dak (optional), and squeeze the lime juice in there.
6. Continue pounding and mixing the contents of the mortal and pestle.
7. Ready to serve.

Reviews

[lonely_guy]

This is an amazing dish! I looooooove Lao food and have been searching for a good recipe for papaya salad. I managed to find an Asian store that sells shrimp and crab paste and also found some fermented fish sauce. I'm sure the homade "padek" is a lot better than store bought ones, but following the directions to the T brought me back to my vacation in Laos. As suggested by the chef, I made sticky rice and some grilled chicken wings. Yummy! What a great complementary dish! Can't wait to make some for my friends :) Thanks chef!