Lao Papaya Salad is a unique sweet and spicy salad made with unripe papaya that is sure to bring an unforgettable flavor explosion to your meal as a side dish or the main course.
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Salad doesn’t have to be boring. There are no rules for exactly what counts as a salad (if you’ve ever tried Jello salad, you know this) but if your goal is to get crisp, fresh vegetables into your diet in a new and exciting way, this is a salad you really should try.
Laos Papaya Salad or tam mak hoong as it is called in Lao, is colorful, bright, fresh, and delicious, with a hint of sweetness and savory that makes it craveable and delicious.
What I love about this salad is it skips over any oil and mayonnaise that you encounter in most American salads and opts instead for freshly ground chili peppers and flavorful shrimp and crab paste.
This paste, mixed with crunchy green papaya, cherry tomatoes, and Asian eggplant creates a salad with texture and flavor you will not soon forget.
What is Green Papaya?
Green papaya is simply unripe papaya. Because it is not yet ripe, it is not yet soft, which gives it a delightful crunch and a milder flavor. In addition to the crunchy texture green papaya is fibrous, soaking up all the flavor of the chilies, lime, and seafood paste.
While green papaya is just unripe papaya, it is grown to be used in this way and is different from the papaya you might find at a normal grocery store. To ensure you get the right ingredient for this dish I would recommend searching for a green papaya at an Asian grocery store.
It should be about the size of a melon, green and firm. If it is soft or squishy at all, put it back. You want the crunch.
You also want it to feel heavy for its size as this is a sign that the interior has not yet ripened.
To prepare the papaya you can peel the green outer layer of the papaya with a vegetable peeler, cut it in half, and remove the seeds. The texture of the beautiful white flesh is like a potato but without the starch. For this dish, you want to slice the papaya into small, thin shreds or matchstick pieces, julienne mode.
I’ve seen a few ideas for the replacement of papaya in this recipe. If you are unable to locate a raw green papaya to prepare this the traditional way, you could try a green mango, an English cucumber, or even just use cabbage. While these substitutes are not as authentic and will change the recipe, they may be a good option.
Recipe Origin
This popular Lao papaya salad dish originated in Laos but you can find variations all over southeast Asia in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
The salad goes by the name Tum Maak Hoong in Laos. “Tum” means “pounded”, which is how the sauce is made, and “Mak Hoong” means “papaya”.
While this dish likely originated in Laos and contains all the key ingredients of Laotian cuisine, it has become a staple food in Thai street markets where you may find “som tam” or “tum som” (and other various names) served Thai-style with sticky rice and a sprinkle of peanuts. The Thai versions of this salad may also incorporate more Thai chilies and more sweetness than authentic tum mak hoong.
The exact recipe for this salad varies by region, some focusing more on the sweetness of the dressing and some putting more emphasis on the savory. Each is essentially the same, flavorful chilies pounded in a wooden mortar and pestle and poured over crunchy papaya creating a sweet and sour flavor explosion for your taste buds.
Why Make This Recipe
- Unique Flavors: The ingredient list for this popular spicy salad may be intimidating for some but let me assure you, this combination of shrimp, crab, chili, and lime is so interesting with a unique spiciness.
- Customizable: I love it when a dish can easily be adjusted to suit your tastes. Feel free to add more lime, more chilies, or more sugar to bring out the flavor you love most in Lao-style papaya salad.
- Taste of Laos: Laotian cuisine is full of unique and surprising flavors and textures. If you’ve never been to Laos, this salad is an excellent introduction to its cuisine.
What Do I Need To Make This Recipe
Ingredients
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Unripe Papaya: See “What is a Green Papaya” section for tips on picking the best Papaya
- Chili Peppers: Both fresh and dried. Feel free to use more or less to adjust the heat.
- Shrimp Paste & Crab Paste: Find these in your Asian grocery store.
- Padaek: Padaek is an authentic Lao ingredient. It’s a fermented fish sauce so it comes out thicker than fish sauce but with the same pungent smell and flavor. Padaek is often homemade but you can also find it on Amazon.
- Granulated Sugar: Many recipes call for palm sugar or brown sugar as a substitute for white sugar
- Crab Sauce: This is sometimes frozen with pieces of crab in the sauce.
- Asian eggplants: These can be omitted if you can’t find them. Asian eggplants are small and circular, just a little bit larger than a golf ball.
Tools
- Wooden mortar and pestle: I recommend a wooden mortar and pestle to achieve the best texture. A marble mortar and pestle may grind your ingredients too finely. I do not have a wooden mortar and pestle, so I used a marble one. With some caution, I was able to achieve the right result!
- Vegetable Peeler or Sharp Knife
How to Make This Recipe
Step One: Prep your Papaya
Peel the skin from the papaya and rinse off the sticky substance from the fruit.
Use the blade of your knife to (safely) whack your papaya lengthwise until there are a bunch of little cuts all over it. Then use your knife to cut the papaya shallowly, cutting off uneven shreds of the papaya fruit.
Step Two: Grind your Sauce
In a large mortar and pestle, add the salt, garlic, fresh chili peppers, and dried chili peppers. Smash the ingredients together until a paste is formed.
Add the shrimp paste and crab paste into the mortar and mix again until combined.
Add the Padaek, fish sauce, granulated sugar, and crab sauce. Mix until combined but do not mix too hard as you don’t want your crab pieces to get smushed.
Step Three: Combine and Mix
Add the shredded papaya pieces into a bowl, then drizzle your dressing over the top. Add in the cherry tomatoes and the lime juice.
Use a spoon and your pestle to mix the papaya with the juice. As you are mixing, use your pestle to press on the papaya a little bit, bruising it.
Serve your Lao papaya salad and enjoy!
Recipe researched using Saeng Douangdara, Gigi’s Lao Kitchen, and Cooking with Nana
Expert Tips
- Wear protective eyewear when smashing your chili peppers. A little chili juice in your eye or even under your fingernails can be painful.
- This salad is meant to have a very fishy flavor to it. It smells and tastes like it’s fresh from the ocean. Some padaek and crab sauce may even have pieces of fish or crab in it. You can adjust those ingredients slightly but be prepared that if you are not a fan of fish this salad may not be for you.
- You can purchase a jar of Padaek or you can make Padaek at home.
- The flavors in this salad can easily be adjusted with more or less chili, sugar or lime. Feel free to mess around with different ratios until you find what suits your preferences.
- You want to crush your sauce ingredients without completely grinding them. They should come together in a rough sauce, not a smooth paste.
- Give your papaya time to sit in the sauce before serving. Give it a good mix to allow all those flavors to mix in well–but try not to pound your papaya to the point where it loses its crunch.
Adaptations
- Long beans or snake beans are another popular addition to this salad. Long beans are just like green beans but longer and more firm. Cut them up and mix them in raw for even more crunch and flavor.
- This dish is meant to be served as a side dish but you could easily make it the main course by adding in some protein. It’s common to see this salad served with some fish or beef.
- Some people also like to add MSG but this is optional
- The Thai version of this recipe is also topped with peanuts. Feel free to add this if you’d like.
Laos Papaya Salad
Equipment
- Wooden mortar and pestle: I recommend a wooden mortar and pestle to achieve the best texture. A marble mortar and pestle may grind your ingredients too finely. I do not have a wooden mortar and pestle, so I used a marble one. With some caution, I was able to achieve the right result!
- Vegetable Peeler or Sharp Knife
Ingredients
- 1 large unripe papaya, 2 lb (you want the salad to be crunchy)
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 fresh chili peppers, more or less depending on your spiciness preference
- 3 dried chili peppers
- 1 tsp shrimp paste
- ½ tsp crab paste
- ¼ cup Padaek
- 1 tbsp Fish Sauce, can go up to 2 tbsp
- 1 tbsp granulated Sugar
- 2 tbsp Crab Sauce
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ lime, juiced
- 3 Asian eggplants
Instructions
- Peel the skin from the unripe papaya and rinse off the sticky substance from the fruit.
- Use the blade of your knife to (safely) whack your papaya lengthwise until there are a bunch of little cuts all over it. Then use your knife to cut the papaya shallowly, cutting off uneven shreds of the papaya fruit.
- In a mortar and pestle, add ¼ tsp salt, 1 clove garlic, 3 fresh chili peppers, and 3 dried chili peppers. Smash the ingredients together until a paste is formed.
- Add 1 tsp shrimp paste and ½ tsp crab paste into the mortar and mix again until combined.
- Add the ¼ cup Padaek, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp granulated sugar, and 2 tbsp crab sauce. Mix until combined but do not mix too hard as you don’t want your crab pieces to get smushed.
- Add the papaya pieces into a bowl, then drizzle your dressing over the top. Add in 1 cup cherry tomatoes and the lime juice of ½ a lime juiced.
- Use a spoon and your pestle to mix the papaya with the juice. As you are mixing, use your pestle to press on the papaya a little bit, bruising it.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Unripe Papaya: See “What is a Green Papaya” section for tips on picking the best Papaya
- Chili Peppers: Both fresh and dried. Feel free to use more or less to adjust the heat.
- Shrimp Paste & Crab Paste: Find these in your Asian grocery store.
- Padaek: Padaek is an authentic Lao ingredient. It’s a fermented fish sauce so it comes out thicker than fish sauce but with the same pungent smell and flavor. Padaek is often homemade but you can also find it on Amazon.
- Granulated Sugar: Many recipes call for palm sugar or brown sugar as a substitute for white sugar
- Crab Sauce: This is sometimes frozen with pieces of crab in the sauce.
- Asian eggplants: These can be omitted if you can’t find them. Asian eggplants are small and circular, just a little bit larger than a golf ball.
- Wear protective eyewear when smashing your chili peppers. A little chili juice in your eye or even under your fingernails can be painful.
- This salad is meant to have a very fishy flavor to it. It smells and tastes like it’s fresh from the ocean. Some Padaek and crab sauce may even have pieces of fish or crab in it. You can adjust those ingredients slightly but be prepared that if you are not a fan of fish this salad may not be for you.
- You can purchase a jar of Padaek or you can make Padaek at home.
- The flavors in this salad can easily be adjusted with more or less chili, sugar or lime. Feel free to mess around with different ratios until you find what suits your preferences.
- You want to crush your sauce ingredients without completely grinding them. They should come together in a rough sauce, not a smooth paste.
- Give your papaya time to sit in the sauce before serving. Give it a good mix to allow all those flavors to mix in well–but try not to pound your papaya to the point where it loses its crunch.
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