Thai It Up

When Jeff & I went on our honeymoon to Thailand, we stayed on the island of Samui. We loved Ko Samui, especially the food! One of our favorites was this little Thai lady who would roam the beach with a yoke strung across her shoulders. On one side of the yoke was a variety of fresh vegetables and the other was a portable hibachi loaded full of meat on skewers. When stopped she would make fresh Green Papaya salad with your choice of grilled meat. It was spicy, crunchy and absolutely delicious! We ate it for lunch every day and have had difficulty finding it back here in the states.

We went to the Jacksonville Farmer's Market today for the first time and saw many of the ingredients for the Green Papaya salad and decided to try to recreate this wonderful meal. We had to also go to an Asian Market to find the long beans and dried shrimp, but it was well worth the trouble. It was soooo goood!!!

Me and the original "Noodle Lady"'s Green Papaya Salad, Ko Samui, Thailand, 2006

Recipe we used: Taken from Thai Table

Green Papaya Salad - Som Tum

1 1/2	tablespoons		palm sugar
3/4			lime
2	cups		green papaya, shredded
6			green beans
1	clove		garlic
1 1/2	tablespoons		fish sauce
1	tablespoon		dried shrimp
2			chili peppers
5			cherry tomatoes
2	tablespoons		peanuts, toasted	Optional

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.

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Green_Papaya_Salad.htm