Thai Som Tum

Take a raw papaya which is green and very crisp. We are not looking for plumpy papayas here. I got a green one and it was still a little yellow from inside but you must aim for a papaya which is white in color from inside. Peel off its skin. Cut it into thin sticks or julienne it with a sharp knife. 

Take some fresh beans and trim its ends and then cut them into 1 inch pieces.

Take a red chilli here I am using Thai red bird's eye chilli and chop it finely and place it in a mortar along with clove of garlic. With the help of a pestle crush it and grind it into a paste. If you dont have mortar and pestle you can use a food processor.

Add the chilli garlic paste into a bowl and add some lemon juice to it. Also add fish sauce, if you are a vegetarian or don't like the smell of fish sauce you can replace it with soya sauce. Also add brown sugar or palm sugar to the lemon sauce and mix everything together. You can add dried shrimps at this stage for an authentic flavor but if you are a vegetarian you can give it a pass.

Place the chopped beans in the mortar and bruise them slightly with the pestle so that the juices can run out and it can absorb the dressing better. Take tomato and scoop out its pulp using a spoon. Cut the tomato into juliennes or into cubes, as you like.

Add the papaya juliennes to the dressing bowl along with beans and tomato. Toss everything together and transfer it to a serving bowl.

Toss on top toasted salted peanuts. If you like you can crush the peanuts, I just used them halved. Indulge in the most amazing and healthy salad from Thailand.