You can find this popular dish anywhere in Thailand. Papaya salad or Somtom. This dish made with locally grown unripe papaya. But where I am, we have no local papaya. I substituted the spines of cauliflower leaves.
It’s very good. It’s reminiscent of the original, but also stands on it’s own.
-Ingredients-
– 1-2 cloves garlic crushed with flat of knife or in mortar with pestle
– 1-2 chilis, sliced small or crushed in mortar with pestle
– 3-4 tbsp tamarind juice — tamarind paste diluted 1:1 with water — or substitute lime juice
– A pinch pink or other salt
– 1/2 tsp agave or maple syrup
– 1 small tomato — cut into small pieces
– 1/2 cup cauliflower leaf spines — trim green leafy part away (for other uses like steaming) and shred spines — or use green papaya
– 1/2 cup carrot, peeled and shredded
– 1/2 stalk celery, sliced thin
– 1 tbsp roasted peanuts
-Preparation-
1) In a small bowl, add tamarind juice, garlic, chilis, salt and agave. Mix well.
2) In a separate bowl, add remaining ingredients except peanuts. Add sauce from small bowl and mix well.
3) Top with peanuts.
Serve with sticky or other rice.
Enjoy! .
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