Green papaya salad

1Steve's Note:

Goui/noam - Vietnamese salads 'Goui' is any shredded vegetable served raw with mint and basil or coriander plus many of the wild herbs which are not available here in the U.S. Here Green Papaya is generaly the vegetable of choice. On the top of the dish there is cooked meat, shrimp or beef jerky. Fish sauce dip is used as dressing for the dish. You can make 'goui' with any kind of vegetables as long as you shred, wash and drain them dry before adding any dressing to it. You can use shrimp crackers to serve with the salads.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

For Salad

• 1 (2 lb) medium papayas , remove the skin,split,seeded and cut in very thinly julienne strips
• ½ lb pork loin (boneless)
• ½ lb of shelled and deveined shrimp
• 3 teaspoons of chopped coriander
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Asian basil or 3 tablespoons mint
• ½ cup of chopped roasted peanuts

For Fish sauce dip for dressing

• 1 clove garlic , crushed or minced
• 1 fresh limes, juice of or ¼ cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 hot red chili pepper , minced (optional)

For Garnish

Garnish

• shrimp crackers
• 1 hot red chili pepper , finely julienned (optional)
• fish sauce , dip

Directions:

1. Wash the shrimp with salted cold water.
2. Drain and set aside.
3. Boil water in a medium sauce pan.
4. When the water begins to boil put the piece of pork in the sauce pan and simmer over medium heat for at least 30 minutes until cooked through.
5. Drain and set aside.
6. When it's cool, julienne cut into long thin 2-inch strips.
7. In another sauce pan, boil water.
8. When the water is boiling, put the shrimp in and cook for 5 minutes.
9. Drain the shrimp, split in half and set aside.
10. Soak the shredded green papaya in a large bowl of cold water with 1 teaspoon of salt.
11. Let it sit for 10 minutes; then rinse and drain it well.
12. Use a cheesecloth to squeeze out the water from the shredded papaya.
13. Add pork, shrimp (save a few shrimp to decorate the top of salad), fish sauce dip, and toss.
14. To make fish sauce dip simply combine the ingreidents listed and mix well.
15. To serve: Put the salad on a plate and arrange the cooked shrimp on top, sprinkle the top with coriander, and basil or mint, and chopped peanuts.
16. Guests can use shrimp crackers to scoop up the salad to eat.
17. A second method of serving: use finely shredded beef jerky instead of pork and shrimp.
18. The rest of the preparations are the same.

Reviews

[Ms Samara]

This dressing is fantastic. Absolutely what I remember from Thailand. I omitted the shrimp and pork, and I ended up using red cabbage with some grated carrot instead of the green papaya, but the bottom line is that the recipe for fish sauce dressing is outstanding. The salad was gorgeous and delicious. I encourage people to try this recipe, even if you can't find green papaya-- as long as you have the dressing, herbs, and peanuts, the flavor will still resonate Thai.

[Buster's friend]

A great salad we've been making for years! A cuisinart or box shredder makes short work of the papaya - lovely thin shreds are the best. We serve as a first course & usually omit any meat. Green papaya can be found at most Asian markets. This recipe would also work with shredded cabbage & Romaine. Add dressing just before serving as it wilts the shreds pretty fast.