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bowl of Lao green papaya salad
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5 from 6 votes

Lao green papaya salad

A classic side for Laos and Thai food, this easy salad is a delicious mix of sweet and spicy.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Laos, Thai
Servings: 2 -4
Calories: 116kcal
Author: Caroline's Cooking
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Ingredients

  • 10 ½ oz papaya 300g, approx, unripe/green ideally, or unripe mango
  • 1 teaspoon shrimp paste
  • 2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 clove garlic roughly chopped
  • 1 red chili roughly chopped (or more/less to taste, see notes)
  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 lime juice ie from 1 lime
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce

Instructions

  • Peel and deseed the papaya and cut into matchstick pieces (either with a mandolin or roughly by hand).
  • Ideally with a pestle and mortar, crush together the shrimp paste, sugar, garlic and chili until the garlic and chili are largely a paste. Halve the cherry tomatoes and crush them slightly with the garlic-chili paste so that they are breaking up slightly but not falling apart.
  • Add the lime juice and fish sauce, pour over the papaya and mix through. Check the taste and add a little more lime juice or fish sauce, to taste.

Video

Notes

If you can find padaek, then it's worth adding around 1tsp to the sauce for a traditional deeper, umami flavor.
The chili used s traditionally a red Thai chili which is relatively spicy. If you are less into spice, you can reduce the heat a bit using eg serrano instead.

Nutrition

Calories: 116kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 3g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 345mg | Potassium: 491mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 1960IU | Vitamin C: 143.5mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1.2mg