Make This Spicy Papaya Salad the Star of Your Next Cookout

This is an excerpt from Eater’s debut cookbook that brings some side dish inspiration: potato salad and slaw are givens at summer parties, but for an inspired twist, consider adding a papaya salad to the menu. This version comes from Eem in Portland.

Portland is spoiled for choice when it comes to excellent Thai food, thanks in no small part to chef Earl Ninsom’s work at Langbaan, Paadee, and Hat Yai. At his restaurant Eem, Ninsom joined forces with pitmaster Matt Vicedomini and barman Eric Nelson to serve a menu of Thai barbecue mashups and inventive drinks for an all-day party vibe. The “very spicy” papaya salad is a fairly straightforward example of som tum, so to do it justice, make sure you’re using palm sugar in your dressing and green papaya and a mortar and pestle for your salad. Sweet, sour, and fiery, it pairs perfectly with the smoky meats on the Eem menu — try it at home alongside anything grilled or fried, or even just sticky rice.

“Very Spicy” Papaya Salad Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons palm sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) fish sauce
¼ cup (60 ml) lime juice

For the salad:

4 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 to 3 Thai chiles, less if you don’t love spice
2 cups (250 grams) sliced long beans, cut into 2-inch (5 cm pieces)
4 cups (500 grams) shredded green papaya (see Note)
1 cup (145 grams) cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ cup (37 grams) roasted peanuts
Lime wedges

Instructions:

Step 1: use a mortar and pestle (or food processor, or even a mixing bowl) to combine the palm sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside.

Step 2: Using the mortar and pestle, gently smash the garlic, then add the chiles and gently smash until they’re broken down but not yet a paste. Add the long beans and continue to gently smash. Add the shredded papaya, cherry tomatoes, and the dressing and gently smash and stir together. If your mortar and pestle is big enough, you can transfer the garlic-chile-bean mixture to a large bowl and then add the shredded papaya and cherry tomatoes and toss with the prepared dressing.

Step 3: After the salad is dressed, portion it out or transfer to a large platter. Top with the roasted peanuts and serve with lime wedges.

NOTE: You can typically find green, unripened papaya at Asian grocery stores, or you can find a vendor online. To shred a green papaya, peel and seed it. Then shred it using a cleaver, a kiwi peeler, a julienne Y-peeler, or even a box grater.

Adapted from EATER: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes by Hillary Dixler Canavan. Text and illustrations copyright © Vox Media, LLC. Text by Hillary Dixler Canavan and illustrations by Alice Oehr. Photography copyright © 2023 by Laura Murray. Published by Abrams.

Dina Ávila is a photographer in Portland, Oregon.
Recipe tested by Ivy Manning

“Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes” by Eater and Hillary Dixler Canavan

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