I love this recipe. If you just read the ingredients it doesn’t sound right- green papaya, garlic, hot peppers…. But Thai people know how to combine these flavours to perfection. The key to Thai food is the perfect mix of these 5 flavours: sweet, pungent, sour, bitter and salty.
This recipe is a perfect example, as well as one of the most characteristic Thai recipes. The key is to find a green papaya. Normally we eat it very ripe, or orange, because otherwise they are bitter. But this bitterness is precisely what is called for in this recipe.
That said, if you can’t find a green papaya, try using one that is at least mostly ripe, or a little orange at the ends. This recipe is super easy and you will be surprised by the contrasts of flavours in this dish.