This is part of Destination Dinner Party, featuring impossibly delicious menus from Maine, Portugual, and Thailand. Join us as we eat our way through each dreamy locale.
Ingredients
1 medium green (unripe) papaya (1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
1 heaping tablespoon dried shrimp
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 to 3 fresh red Thai bird’s-eye chiles, stemmed
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar or finely chopped palm sugar
2 long beans, trimmed and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons roasted unsalted peanuts, divided
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from 1 medium lime)
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate (optional)
1/3 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
Instructions
Option 1: Knife-cut method. Peel 1 medium green papaya. Using a chef’s knife, make a series of parallel, vertical, shallow cuts down the length of the top of the papaya, spacing them somewhere between 1/16 and 1/8-inch apart (they don’t have to be perfectly spaced apart). Rotate the knife 90 degrees so that the blade is parallel with the surface of the papaya, then cut lengthwise away from you 1/16 to 1/8-inch deep to cut off the shreds. Rotate the papaya and repeat until you have 1 1/2 cups shreds.
Option 2: Peeler method. Peel the papaya. Using a papaya salad shredder, shred the papaya until you have 1 1/2 cups shreds.
Soak the shredded papaya in ice water for 10 to 15 minutes to crisp up. Drain, then pat dry with paper towels or a kitchen towel.
Option 1: Make the salad with a mortar and pestle.
Place 1 heaping tablespoon dried shrimp in a small bowl and add enough hot water to cover. Let sit for 15 minutes. Drain and coarsely chop if the shrimp are large.
Pound 2 peeled garlic cloves and 1 to 3 stemmed red Thai bird’s-eye chiles with a mortar and pestle until crushed into small pieces.
Add 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar and pound until the sugar is mostly dissolved and a wet paste forms. Add 2 chopped long beans and pound until they are slightly broken down. Add the shrimp and 2 tablespoons of the roasted unsalted peanuts. Pound gently until slightly crushed (do not pound into a paste).
Stir in 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce, and 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate if using until combined and the sugar is completely dissolved.
If using a large mortar and pestle, add 1/3 cup halved grape tomatoes and gently pound until they release their juices. Add the papaya and gently crush it a few times to soften and absorb the dressing, then lift and turn it with a spoon to mix evenly. Repeat until the papaya is well coated in the dressing and slightly wilted.
If using a small mortar and pestle, scrape the dressing into a medium bowl. Stir in the papaya and 1/3 cup halved grape tomatoes, gently pressing on the tomatoes to release some of their juices.
Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining 1 tablespoon roasted unsalted peanuts.
Option 2: Make the salad without a mortar and pestle.
Place 1 heaping tablespoon dried shrimp in a small bowl and add enough hot water to cover. Let sit for 15 minutes. Drain and finely chop.
Place 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar and a splash of hot water in a medium bowl. Mash together into a paste with a fork.
Stir in 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce, and 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate if using until the sugar dissolves.
Mince 2 garlic cloves of garlic and 1 to 3 stemmed red Thai bird’s-eye chiles. Stir into the dressing. Stir in the shrimp and 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped roasted unsalted peanuts.
Gently smash 2 chopped long beans with a heavy kitchen tool (such as a bottle, heavy saucepan, or rolling pin) until slightly broken up. Add to the bowl.
Add 1/3 cup halved grape tomatoes and press gently on them to release some of their juices. Toss in the papaya until combined.
Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining 1 tablespoon roasted unsalted peanuts.
