This is obviously a party size papaya salad, but I'll do my best to help you make a regular portion of this dish.
As I said yesterday, this was requested for my friend's birthday party (I think the Vietnamese people enjoy this dish a lot more than Laotians do these days, maybe we just take it for granted because we grew up eating this stuff). The hardest part about making a party platter is the transportation of it to the party. I never realized how many hills and ungulations there were in Austin (especially on one road) until I had to transport this. Everyone knows you DO NOT want to spill this in your car. Someone must have been watching over me (maybe the Papaya Salad Gods) because not even a drop spilled in my truck while transporting this tray.
This dish may require some extra tools such as a clay mortar and wooden pestle (I'll post a pic later). If you don't have this I can tell you where to pick up a set. I've also seen people use gloves (or even zip lock bags) and a large mixing bowl.
Ingredients (for average portion):
1/2 lbs (or two handfuls) shredded green papaya
3-4 garlic cloves
3-4 Thai chili peppers (less or more depending on how much heat you can handle, my aunt would put 20!)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon crab paste (you can leave this out, but I love the extra salty kick it gives)
1 teaspoon shrimp paste (again, you can leave this out as well, some people can handle the odor)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
4-7 tablespoon fish sauce
6-8 cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered)
1 lime
2-3 Thai eggplants (you can leave this out if you can't find it, but I love the extra crunchy texture it gives the salad) thick slices
Directions:
Preparing the green papaya:
First you'll need to peel the papaya of course, then give it a quick rinse and pat dry with a towel (this will help it from slipping out of your hands). I shred my papaya the old fashion way (doing it this way gives it a better overall texture and a slight crunch factor) by using only a sharp knife and then chopping down at the papaya creating 1/8 inch slits and rotating the papaya until the whole surface has an abundance of slits on it. Then with your knife angled ever so slightly (1-2 degrees) you'll want to thinly slice those slits away until you have a clear surface again, repeat until you get down to the core of the papaya. This may sound difficult (and to some it really it is) but with enough practice you'll get the hang of it and if you cut too big of a chunk out, don't worry about it, just cut that chunk into thin slices. For those of you who think you really can't do it, you can use a mandolin set a the 2nd lowest level or even and julienne hand slicer (Kiwi brand makes one and shame on you if you're Laotian and use this) to create thin slices.
Directions on preparing papaya salad:
In a mortar and pestle combine garlic, chili peppers, and salt. Mash ingredients well to create a paste, then add crab paste and shrimp paste and continue making a paste of all these ingredients. Once paste is done, add papaya, tomatoes, 1/2 of lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and eggplants. Continue mashing all ingredients in the mortar and pestle until the color consistency is uniform (you'll see it turn a darker color). Give it a taste and you can adjust the saltiness or tartness by adding more fish sauce or lime juice. You're papaya salad should be somewhat juicy (my mom used to tell me that if you're papaya salad is dry, it means that you're stingy) from the tomatoes, lime juice, and fish sauce.
Hint: Keep a little bit of the shredded papaya on the side just in case it is to salty for you, by adding more papaya it'll help drown out some of the salty taste.
Once you're satisfied with overall taste you can start devouring this addictive treat. I like to eat my with accompaniments such as water spinach, cabbage, vermicelli noodles, and even more Thai egg plants. Oh and remember that juice from the salad? Don't let that go to waste, pour some on steamed rice or get your sticky rice and start dipping.
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