Name: Green Papaya Salad
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Yield: Serves 4 as a side dish or 6 as a first course
Ingredients: 1 (1- to 1 1/4-pound) green papaya; 1 large tomato, chopped; 2 ounce Asian-style beef jerky (optional), cut into fine julienne; 2 large garlic cloves, minced; 1 to 3 small (1-inch) fresh Asian chiles such as bird or Thai, minced; 1 tablespoon minced peeled galangal or fresh ginger; 4 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 1 1/2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce; 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar; Accompaniment: soft-leaf lettuce

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Green Papaya SaladTK

Anywhere you go in Laos, you will find women patiently preparing papaya for this salad. Using a small machete-like knife, they make repeated shallow parallel cuts, each about 1/8 inch deep, in a section of the papaya. Then they scrape the papaya from top to bottom so they end up with very nice julienne. A food processor fitted with the julienne disk or a manual slicer such as a mandoline works equally well.

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