Leela Punyaratabandhu's Green Papaya Salad

This recipe is adapted from Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen by Leela Punyaratabandhu. We reviewed the book in November 2020. Use a mandoline to slice the green papaya about 1/8 inch thick, then cut into julienne, or use a “hand grater”; the author likes an inexpensive one called Kiwi Pro Slice. Otherwise, she suggests using the grater attachment of a food processor. A box grater, she writes, will result in “limp, bruised strands.”

Serves 4.

Ingredients

2 large cloves garlic

Fresh bird’s eye or red Thai chile, seeded if desired, for seasoning

1 tablespoon packed grated palm sugar or coconut palm sugar or 2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons dried shrimp (optional)

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

12 ounces grated or julienned green papaya, from a 2-pound whole papaya

4 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved crosswise

4 ounces green beans, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths

2 tablespoons fish sauce

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Instructions for making using a mortar and pestle (or improvising one)

For this recipe, you can use a clay mortar and wooden pestle (ideal and traditional), or you can pound the ingredients inside a large plastic food storage bag with a rolling pin or other heavy object. If you only have a granite mortar, you can use it, too; just be careful not to pound too hard.

1. If you are using a clay mortar, put the garlic, chiles and sugar in the mortar and pound until they form a paste. Add the shrimp (if using) and pound until they disintigrate. Add the peanuts and pound until they are broken up into tiny pieces. Add the papaya, tomatoes and green beans and pound until the papaya is softened and the tomatoes and the green beans are smashed, about 30 seconds.

2. Add the fish sauce and lime juice and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. Transfer the salad from the mortar to a plate and serve immediately.

Instructions for making without a mortar and pestle

1. Mince the garlic and chiles until they form a smooth paste. Put the paste in a small bowl, along with the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice; stir to dissolve the sugar to form a dressing. Chop the peanuts coarsely. Set the dressing and peanuts aside.

2. Put the dried shrimp (if using) in a gallon-sized plastic food-storage bag and pound the shrimp with a heavy object until they are falling apart. Add the green beans to the bag and pound them until they are bruised and broken up. Put the papaya strands in the bag, along with the tomatoes and the dressing; seal the bag closed, pressing out all of the air. Squeeze the bag until the papaya is soft and the tomatoes bruised and everything is blended together. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

3. Add the chopped peanuts to the bag and stir them into the salad with a large spoon. Transfer the salad to a plate and serve immediately.

Recipe note

Throughout Simple Thai Cooking, Punyaratabandhu suggests brown sugar as a suitable substitute for palm sugar. We have also had excellent results with coconut palm sugar, sometimes called “coconut sugar,” which the author does not mention in the book.