Bangkok-style green papaya salad recipe

A classic Thai street food dish, this Bangkok-style green papaya salad recipe goes really well with grilled chicken or pork skewers and sticky rice. Veggies can team it with a Thai red tofu curry. Yum.

Ingredients

(serves 2-4)

3 garlic cloves

Good pinch of salt

2tbsp roasted peanuts

2tbsp dried prawns, rinsed and drained (can be found in almost any Asian store nowadays)

2 slices or small wedges of lime (optional)

6 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 snake beans, cut into 1 cm lengths (can substitute with fine green beans)

4-6 bird’s eye chillies, to taste

1 small green papaya, shredded

2tbsp shaved palm sugar, to taste

2-3tbsp fish sauce

2-3tbsp lime juice

2tbsp tamarind water

Method:

Using a pestle and mortar, pound the garlic with the salt then add the peanuts and dried prawns and pound to a coarse paste.

Add the lime (if using), bruising it with the pestle, then add the cherry tomatoes and beans to the mortar and carefully work everything together.

Next add the bird’s eye chillies, barely crushing them.

Finally, add the green papaya and lightly bruise with the pestle, while turning and tossing the mixture with a large spoon held in your other hand.

Season the salad with palm sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and tamarind water. It should taste sweet, sour, hot and salty.

This recipe has been created with Co-founder and Head Chef, Andy Oliver of award-winning restaurant Som Sa in partnership with Singha Beer.