Tum mark hoong - Lao spicy green papaya salad recipe
Prep time
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A deliciously refreshing and addictive Lao spicy green papaya salad. Perfect as a side dish or eaten with Lao sticky rice, grilled chicken, pork crackle and leafy greens.
Author: Padaek
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Lao
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 1 green papaya or papaw (you only need half for this recipe)
- 10 hot chilies (or as many as you like - you'll need at least 1)
- 6 cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 lemon or lime
- 1 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tsp of shrimp paste
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of sugar
Instructions
- Prep all of your ingredients before you start cooking. Wash and peel half of the green papaya. After you’ve peeled the papaya and before shredding it, wash it again to remove any excess sap. Shred/julienne half of the papaya with the miracle knife, or a cleaver/knife. Be very careful.
- Peel the garlic cloves, wash the chilies, slice the lemon/lime into wedges, halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Start by pounding the garlic, chilies, salt, sugar and shrimp paste with the mortar and pestle. It's good to have some texture in the mixture.
- Add a handful of the shredded papaya and halved cherry tomatoes into the mortar, and gently pound them into the mixture. Turn and fold the mixture with a spoon, at the same time pound them together with the pestle. Don’t pound the cherry tomatoes too much because you want some of them to keep their shape and still be plump and juicy.
- Add the remaining shredded papaya, fish sauce, and squeeze in the lemon/lime juice. Continue to pound and turn the mixture together. After squeezing out the lemon juice, I like to peel the lemon flesh off its skin and add it into the mix. You might want to use a knife or spoon to do this. Continue to pound and turn the mixture evenly together.
- Taste the salad and sauce, and adjust the flavour to suit your preference. What you're aiming for is a punchy balance of spicy, salty, sour, sweet and umami flavours!
- Transfer the salad mix into a bowl/plate and serve with sticky rice, grilled chicken/meat, pork crackle, a wedge of cabbage, lettuce or other salad greens. Enjoy!
Notes
Cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes are perfect for this recipe because of their taste, size and shape.
You can also add 1 shredded carrot into the salad. This will provide a lovely orange contrast and sweet carrot flavour to the dish.
Other vegetables you can add are radish, snake/long beans, and Thai/kermit eggplants.
You can also add 1 shredded carrot into the salad. This will provide a lovely orange contrast and sweet carrot flavour to the dish.
Other vegetables you can add are radish, snake/long beans, and Thai/kermit eggplants.
Recipe by Padaek at http://padaek.com/make-tum-mark-hoong-lao-spicy-green-papaya-salad-recipe/