Have you ever had one of those weeks when everything goes wrong? Or maybe something goes wrong that consumes your whole week? For the second time in 5 years, the compressor in our fridge died. We always have a fully stocked refrigerator and had just gone grocery shopping the day prior. Rotting food along with the waste management company’s weight limits on trash day can make this a nightmare to deal with.
I really didn’t know what I was going to make this week but I bought a papaya in the hopes of making a green papaya salad, locally known in Thailand as som tum. Unfortunately, the papaya wasn’t green or unripe enough to make that kind of salad.
In between trying to deal with the fridge and wanting to salvage what I could, I came up with my own take on som tum using the ingredients I had left. I needed something to eat with all the craziness and believe me when I tell you, this came together in less than 15 minutes.
When I cut into the papaya and saw that it wasn’t green for my original som tum salad I had to change directions fast. I figured why not go with papapa ribbons? I added some cherry tomatoes, frozen edamame (thawed with the help of a broken freezer), green onions and cilantro.
The dressing to pair this with also came together pretty fast. The key ingredient is the fish sauce, which compensated for the dried shrimp powder usually used in som tum. I didn’t have fresh chilies to work with either but easily substituted those with sriracha. To finish the dressing, I added in some lime juice, coconut aminos, sesame oil and coconut sugar.
Papaya Salad
Papaya ribbons, shelled edamame and cherry tomatoes paired with an asian dressing
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
- ½ tbsp fish sauce
- ½ tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ½ tsp sriracha
- ½ tbsp lime juice
- 1 green onion (sliced )
- 1 tbsp jalapeño slices (optional)
- 10 cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 2 tbsp frozen shelled edamame (thawed)
- 2 tbsp cilantro
- ¼ ripe papaya
- 1 tbsp unsalted roasted peanuts (crushed)
Wash and peel the papaya. Cut the papaya in half and de-seed. Further cut each half in half again so you have 4 quarters. Use a vegetable peeler to peel each quarter into ribbons. Place the ribbons into the serving bowls or plates.
Roughly chop the cilantro.
Top the ribbons with the halved cherry tomatoes, thawed out edamames and the cilantro.
Make the dressing. In a small mixing bowl, add in the coconut sugar, coconut aminos, sesame oil, lime juice and fish sauce and stir until combined.
Top the papaya salad with the dressing and garnish with jalapeño. Feel free to top with crushed roasted peanuts!
