Name: Papaya Salad
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 4 cups unripe green papaya (peeled and shredded); 2 garlic cloves (peeled and roughly chopped); 2 Thai chilies (roughly chopped); ½ tsp kosher salt; 1 tbsp palm sugar (may sub brown); 3 tbsp roasted peanuts (coarsely chopped (plus more for garnish)); 2 tbsp fish sauce; 2 tbsp lime juice; ½ cup long beans (chopped into 1" pieces; may sub green beans but not haricots verts); ½ cup small variety tomatoes (halved); ½ cup carrots (peeled and shredded); ¼ cup Thai basil (packed); ¼ cup fresh cilantro (packed); ¼ cup fresh mint (packed)

Papaya Salad

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This crunchy salad has BIG flavor and is perfect for those hot summer days when you don’t feel like cooking!

Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia
LEFT: One of the papaya trees outside our little villa. The hotel staff would come by once a day to pick the papayas for their restaurant.
RIGHT: A typical seafood heavy beach BBQ menu. I would always order a side of Lime Pepper Dipping Sauce to go with my fish; it was straight up PERFECTION!

A fishing boat somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand.

Koh Tres, a tiny island off the coast of southern Cambodia.

Otres 2 Beach in Sihanoukville. Cambodia.

Glorious sunsets on Otres 2 Beach, Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

Two different point of view from the same spot at White Boutique Hotel.

Yes, that is a VERY long snake slithering up a tree and I lay in my sun lounger. He couldn’t have been less interested in me but I was a bit shook!

I like to serve a few chilled poached prawns on top but that’s just me!

Papaya Salad

Sacha Hirschfeld

This recipe should be on your starting line-up this summer. It's refreshing, healthy, and will transport you to South East Asia in just one bite!

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Papaya Ice-Bath Time 15

Total Time 30

Course Salads

Cuisine Cambodian, Southeast Asian, Thai

Servings 4

Calories 98 kcal

Equipment

1 large bowl for papaya ice-water bath
1 large bowl with tight fitting lid
1 julienne peeler I bought one in Vietnam and it's a life saver! You can buy them online and they're inexpensive.

Ingredients

4 cups unripe green papaya peeled and shredded
2 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped
2 Thai chilies roughly chopped
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp palm sugar may sub brown
3 tbsp roasted peanuts coarsely chopped (plus more for garnish)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
½ cup long beans chopped into 1" pieces; may sub green beans but not haricots verts
½ cup small variety tomatoes halved
½ cup carrots peeled and shredded
¼ cup Thai basil packed
¼ cup fresh cilantro packed
¼ cup fresh mint packed

Instructions

Place your shredded papaya in an ice-water bath for 15 minutes. This will ensure the crunchiest papaya! Make sure to drain and dry well with paper towels. The julienned papaya should be as dry as possible so as to not dilute the dressing.
In a mortar and pestle or food processor, pound or pulse chilies and garlic until crushed into small pieces. Add salt, sugar, and peanuts; pound into the chilies and garlic. You still want to be able to see small pieces of chilies and peanuts. Add lime juice and fish sauce; mix to combine.
If using a food processor, be sure to pulse rather than blend. You're aiming for a coarse looking kinda-paste/kinda-not.
Transfer to a large bowl. Add long beans and tomatoes; lightly bruise them by gently pounding into the dressing.
Add papaya, carrot, and fresh herbs; toss to combine. I always opt to use my hands for this one, because I swear massaging the papaya into the sauce produces better results.
Serve garnished with chopped peanuts. I opted to add a few chilled poached prawns on top (totally optional). That's my go-to for this dish!