Thai dishes are known for their sublime balance of all five tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami, usually achieved with palm sugar, lime, tamarind, and fish sauce.
About once a month, members of our “foodie family” visit the Buddhist temple Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep in Chino Hills to experience the food court/farmers market they hold every Sunday. We buy fresh fruits and vegetables and gorge ourselves on authentic Thai food prepared by members of the community.
This past Sunday was a special day as the monks and worshipers were honoring the memory of Thailand’s beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej who died in Bangkok on October 13th. The temple grounds were festooned with colorful paper flowers around a throne bearing the likeness of King Bhumibol, whose 70 years on the throne made him the longest reigning monarch in the world.
Photo Credit: Austin Trask
Beginning with Thai coffee and moving on to curry puffs, Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, chicken satay, fried rice to salads such as Larb and Green Papaya Salad, and ending with sweet treats like Mee Krob and others we don’t know the names of – it’s fun to spend time with friends while experiencing a little bit of Thailand here in the OC.
Thai coffee with Mee Krob and a crispy wonton crepe-like marshmallow dessert.
At the recent Gray Event to benefit the Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, guests dined on a refreshing, vegan Thai Green Papaya Salad (lower right) prior to the main course.
Host Chef Pascal Olhats was inspired to organize The Gray Event after being deeply affected by the experience he and his wife had on a working visit to the Elephant Nature Park. Along with Pascal and Lek, food writer and cookbook author Cathy Thomas educated us on green papaya and demonstrated how to make Thai Green Papaya Salad.
Green Papaya (malagor in Thai) is most often used to make Thailand’s famous Som Tum – Green Papaya Salad. Shredded green papaya is tossed in a clay mortar and pestle with fish sauce, palm sugar, lime juice and spicy chile peppers to make a zesty salad usually served with barbecue chicken. Raw papaya is good for you as it helps your digestive system and is very high in vitamin C. Consider this fruit, which is treated more as a vegetable, for inclusion in a raw food diet.
- 2 cloves Organic Garlic (large size cloves), forced through a garlic press
- ⅓ cup Organic Lime juice freshly squeezed
- 3 tablespoons Fish Sauce (*vegan alternatives in notes)
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
- 2 small thin Asian Chile 1 or 2 inches long (red or green chiles) or Serrano chile, seeded and finely chopped (wear rubber gloves)
- 1-1/2 pounds Green Papaya, peeled, seeded and coarsely shredded in a food processor (about 4 cups)
- 2 Organic Carrots, finely shredded
- ⅔ cup Cilantro, leaves washed well and spun dry
- 1 tablespoon Roasted Peanuts (Cacahuates Tostados) crushed
- 1 pint Organic Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pressed garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar, and blend until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add chile, papaya, carrot, and cilantro to the dressing, tossing well.
- Lightly toss in cherry tomato halves.
- Salad may be made 2 hours ahead and chilled, covered.
- Bring salad to room temperature before serving.
- Serve salad sprinkled with peanuts.
Green papaya is a different variety of papaya, not an unripe papaya. It can be found in Asian markets and some well stocked produce markets. Daikon (Japanese white radish) or shredded carrots and/or cabbage can be substituted and will offer the same crunchiness and texture.
*Use coconut aminos, Bragg's liquid aminos, or tamarind paste diluted with filtered water instead of fish sauce for vegan diets.
Green Papaya Salad has many Southeastern Asian versions including Vietnamese and Filipino as well as Chinese versions like the one below from Capital Seafood that is served topped with shrimp.
Buddhist monks and the Thai community honoring the memory of King Bhumibol at the Thai Buddhist Temple, Chino Hills. {Photo Credit: Austin Trask}
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