Mr. Terrence Haywood gifted me a green pawpaw (papaya) after visiting his farm in Caura. This was my first time ever using green pawpaw. I got a couple suggestions to make pawpaw balls and/or use it as a meat tenderizer but green pawpaw salad or “green papaya salad” has been on my radar to try for quite some time.

There is an authentic way to make this. It is a recipe called “Som Tum” in Thai cuisine. This authentic method requires specific ingredients as well as using a mortar and pestle to bruise the shredded pawpaw. Bruising the shredded pawpaw along with the chilies, garlic, ginger etc, allows the flavors to really come together to create something that I’m pretty sure tastes amazing. If you want to view an authentic green pawpaw (papaya) salad recipe you can check out the recipe video by HotThaiKitchen.com.

Obviously, I wasn’t going to let access to ingredients and proper tools deter me from making my version of this salad. So if you are a fan of spicy, chow-like, salads. This green pawpaw salad is a must-try recipe.

The one thing that I did try to maintain in the prep for this salad was the shredding technique. I looked at a couple videos and tried it myself and it was easy to replicate.

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The Recipe

Green Pawpaw Salad

This green pawpaw salad is light and refreshing but layered and complex, bursting with tart, spicy, citrusy flavors with a hint of sweet.

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Prep Time: 40

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: Caribbean, Thai, Tobago, Trinidad

Keyword: vegan, vegetarian

Author: baidawi

Ingredients

1 green pawpaw shredded
2 chilies or scotch bonnet pepper
5 cloves garlic
3 " piece galangal or 1" ginger
1 bundle chives finely chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp jaggery or cane sugar regular sugar or honey can work as well
2 tbsp lime juice
salt to taste

Instructions

Shredding & Prepping The Pawpaw

Use a sharp knife to chop the pawpaw along the surface while turning it in your hand. Put the pawpaw to stand straight and run the knife along the face of the pawpaw to shred. Repeat these steps until all the pawpaw is shredded. Once the all the pawpaw has been shredded, shock it in an ice bath to keep it fresh and crisp!
Shock shredded pawpaw in an ice bath
Drain water from the pawpaw

Salad Prep

Cut chilis into small pieces
Cut galangal into small pieces.
Cut garlic into small pieces
Add garlic, galangal, pepper, jaggery and salt into a mortar and pestle then grind into a paste.
Add lime juice
Pound until a smooth paste is formed
Add paste to shredded pawpaw.
Use hands to squeeze paste and shredded pawpaw.
Finish with fresh chives.

Notes

Shredding & Prepping The Pawpaw

Use a sharp knife to chop the pawpaw along the surface while turning it in your hand. Put the pawpaw to stand straight and run the knife along the face of the pawpaw to shred. Repeat these steps until all the pawpaw is shredded. Once the all the pawpaw has been shredded, shock it in an ice bath to keep it fresh and crisp!

Prepping The Other Ingredients

You can find galangal at the namdevco farmers' market in the Queen's Park Savannah. Most people describe the taste as a very mild version to ginger but to me it tastes like a green mango.

Add garlic, galangal, pepper, jaggery and salt into a mortar and pestle then grind into a paste.

Use hands to squeeze paste and shredded pawpaw.

This salad is light and refreshing but layered with flavors. You get the tart flavor from the galangal and tamarind paste. Citrus from the lime juice. Spicy kick from the pepper and the sweetness from the jaggery ties it all together. I had this in my fridge for a week and ate it as a side with every meal. My first meal though, was enjoying it as a topping for a fried pork taco.

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Green Pawpaw Salad

The Recipe