When I had lunch with Mel at The Raw Kitchen Cafe, I was introduced to the edible joy that is green papaya. I'm not even sure I'd heard of green papaya before then, never mind had the privilege of tasting it.
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| Green papaya |
I have since learned more about the classic green papaya salad, Som Tam, which combines green papaya with the quintessential Thai flavours of lime, chilli, palm sugar, and fish sauce. I'm keen to try that too (probably with a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce) but should clarify up front that today's salad is not Som Tam. No, today's dish is a direct adaptation of the salad below, or at least the half on the right, which combines green papaya with carrot and lots of other good things.
Instead of lime, chilli and fish sauce, we have lemon juice, coriander, basil, mint and soy sauce. In addition to the papaya, we have carrot and snow peas It might not be Som Tam, but I can promise you that it works.
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| My salad, less pretty than the cafe version... |
As a consequence of it working so well, there is now none of this left. Perth-based green papaya? Look out, I want you all.
Raw Thai papaya salad
Based on the exquisite dish of the same name at The Raw Kitchen Cafe
Vegan and raw
Serves 2 (as a light main) to 4 (as a side)
Ingredients
1 green papaya
2 medium carrots
1 tbsp soy sauce (for a fully raw version, use a raw equivalent, like Nama Shoyu)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 - 1 tsp olive oil
10 cashews (or more)
1 bunch mint
1 bunch basil
1 bunch coriander
Method
If you have a spiralizer, create spiralized noodles from your green papaya. If you don't, use a knife to cut thin slices or use a grater (manual or food processor) to grate the flesh. I grated mine using a food processor.
Grate the carrots and add to the papaya, along with the snow peas.
If you have a food processor, process the oil, cashews, mint, basil and coriander until the herbs and cashews are roughly chopped. If you don't have a food processor, chop the herbs finely by hand, roughly chop the cashews, and mix together with the olive oil.
Combine the papaya/carrot/snow pea mix with the herb/cashew mix.
Serve. Eat. Rejoice.
This dish doesn't have the sense of occasion that my lunch with Mel had. The version at the Raw Kitchen Cafe also has a little extra something compared to mine, perhaps in the intensity of their flavour-filled sauce, or in the beauty of their spiralized papaya noodles, or from some secret ingredient they add a dash of. I will still enjoy their version when I'm in the Fremantle area, but for those weeks that visiting isn't on the agenda? I think that this will stand in just fine.
Thanks for all your kind birthday wishes to Mr Bite. He greatly enjoyed the comments sent his way!
What are your favourite green papaya uses? (I know, probably Som Tam. I need to try it.)
Or have you adapted a restaurant / cafe dish that you enjoyed, with positive results?
I'm sending this recipe to Ricki's Wellness Weekend April 11th to 15th, Healthy Vegan Friday #38, and Raw Food Thursdays April 10th (it's a bit promiscuous, this dish!).
I love Som Tam! You could probably get away with lime juice and a splash of tamari, chillies and coriander in your salad.
ReplyDeleteThat combination does sound excellent! In truth, I think I'd love traditional Som Tam, I just needed to get this recreation out of my system first ;)
DeleteNice! I've made Som Tam so now i have another recipe to try... I actually tried spiralizing the green papaya but it was too difficult.. grating or the food processor is definitely the way to go. :)
ReplyDeleteThat makes me feel better about not having a spiralizer and thus not being able to try that approach :)
DeleteI have never had papaya before, but that salad looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Tasha - and it's worth looking out for! It's related to paw-paw and I think the US has some different varieties to Australia, but both types of fruit are great. Ripe papaya has orange-red flesh instead of green and really sweet.
DeleteI can't think of green papaya salad without thinking of a colleague swooning over it on one of my first visits to darwin - if you get there in the dry season you should try the one they make fresh at mindl beach market - I have tried it but wasn't overly impressed, however I was made to believe it is so special that it still seems like a great salad to me - I guess that is the Som Tam. But sadly I cannot even think of the taste of papaya and in fact I think I confuse it with paw paw but your salad sounds adventurous even if I can't quite (what is the smelly equivalent of visualise - tastulise?) it
ReplyDeleteOoh, I will look out for that in Darwin! Thanks for the tip.
DeleteI love tastulise as a new word for my non-official vocabulary :) To be honest, I confuse papaya and paw-paw too, not least because I think shops often label them interchangeably. My understanding is that the red-orange fleshed ones are papaya and the yellower flesh is paw-paw but you an get unripe/green versions of both. It is also a bit hard to describe the taste of green papaya, because it is much milder than the ripe fruits - perfect for soaking up flavours but not easy for tastulising. It's not tart or sweet and on its own I'd even say it's a bit bland, like a raw zucchini say, but when mixed with other flavours it develops a whole new sense of self.
I still haven't tried green papaya salad, despite having heard of it for such a long time. (and papaya does sound a hell of a lot nicer than paw paw.)
ReplyDeleteThai cuisine really is the bees knees so many fresh flavours to play with.
It is :) One day I will go to Thailand and taste it properly and probably be horrified with my non-authentic versions up until then!
DeleteSOM TAM IS THE BEST BUT SO IS ANY GREEN PAPAYA SALADDDDDDDD HURRAH.
ReplyDeleteHurrah indeed and I think I'm now on a mission to eat Som Tam within the next month :D
DeleteThat looks so refreshing and delicious. I wish it was in front of me in class right now!
ReplyDeleteIt would be so nice if we could conjure things up like that :) I hope your class finished well at least!
Deletewhat a fun salad! i never think to use papaya!
ReplyDeleteIt's new to me too - but I'm going to keep trying to find and use it now!
DeleteIn Townsville I always see "red pawpaw" or "bisexual pawpaw" which I think must be papaya. We have both growing in the garden, but annoyingly they are not at fruiting stage yet! But in the past we have used green pawpaw in a curry, and it was very yummy! As you say, it just lends itself to other flavours and doesn't really have much to say on its own.
ReplyDeleteOh but! I have a cookbook that says underripe papaya can cause miscarriages or early labour in pregnant women, so be careful who you feed it to!
Delete"Bisexual pawpaw" is hilarious! I am yet to try green flesh in curry form but that does sound wonderful - and having your own crop growing in your garden even more so. Thanks for the warning on pregnancy though! How awful would it be if you served a dish like this to a pregnant woman unknowingly?!
DeleteWell done - your recreation of the Raw Kitchen Cafe salad sounds fantastic! I recipe tested a Som Tam last year, Thai thin soy sauce was used as the fish sauce replacement as it's a bit saltier than standard soy sauce. I tracked it down at an Asian grocer. I love how used used the food processor to grate the vegetables as I have bad memories of cutting a whole papaya julienne style which took forever! I also made a curry with green papaya last year which was tasty but not a very substantial meal as it didn't include any protein.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the top on Thai thin soy sauce! And I might flip back to your curry recipe as a source of inspiration for hot papaya dishes - perhaps with tofu or nuts for the protein aspect.
DeleteOn the grating aspect...there are definitely times that food processor help is beneficial ;)
Yummmm! that looks just perfect. Now I've just got to find a green papaya! Can't wait :)
ReplyDeleteHave fun with it Claire! It's such a great ingredient :)
DeleteWhat?? You can eat 'em raw? Sign me up!
ReplyDeleteI know!
Deletei'm lovin it too,
ReplyDeletehere in indonesia, we used to add some pomelo to the raw young papaya salad
Ooh, I'll have to look that up!
DeleteI've never had either version of raw papaya salad but now I want them both!
ReplyDeleteAnd I want more :)
DeleteGreen papaya is something I've never played with before. Now I have a good reason and a great recipe! Thanks! Would you like to share this at Raw Foods Thursdays?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.glutenfreecat.com/2013/04/raw-foods-thursdays-41013/
Heather
Thanks Heather! I just did :)
DeleteThank you for linking up! I'm pinning this salad on our Raw Foods Thursdays board too. I hope you come back and share more of your raw delights with us!
DeleteWhat a beautiful, fresh looking salad - it is so inviting.
ReplyDeleteIt is that :-)
DeleteLooks fantastic Kari! It's always so satisfying when you can recreate restaurant favourites :)
ReplyDeleteI know - so much fun!
DeleteWhere can you buy papaya in Perth? Im in the Freo area.
ReplyDeleteThanks
I buy mine at the Subiaco Station fruit/veg markets (open Friday through Sunday), but am sure it's available elsewhere too. Fremantle markets might be worth a try, or Peaches in South Fremantle?
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