Papaya Salad

Sabaidee..

Another greeting in Lao language, sounds just like Thai and this word it's very common used in Thailand as well.

Som tam or papaya salad, one of the dish that I made recently and one of the most popular dish in Lao and Thailand. I miss this food so much. Sometimes I just want something that feel like home even if I'm not there.

It was not easy to find green young papaya here and even if they have, the pice are pretty expensive. After few days looking for this thing, at the end I managed to find it in the Asian grocery store not far from our new place.

PAPAYA SALAD

Ingredients;

1-2 cup shredded green papaya
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
2-4 Thai chilli
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon shrimp paste
1 teaspoon dry shrimp, optional
Palm sugar
Fish sauce
Lime juice
Toasted crushed peanuts

METHOD;

- Take the chilli and garlic and gently bash with mortar and pestle, or food processor.
- Add shrimp paste, dry shrimp and continue bashing.
- Add shredded papaya, tomatoes, and season with palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice.
- Stir and pound a bit more to blend with the flavoring and seasoning. Taste and adjust flavors to the desired hot sour sweet and salty taste.
- Sprinkle with crushed peanut on top.