This salad is an absolute sensation. It’s fresh and tangy, and soaks up every last drop of that immense dressing. I’ll often make a big batch of nuoc cham and have it on standby for the whole week as it’s so addictive. Just watch those fingers, my friends!
Vietnamese Prawn & Green Papaya Salad
1 small green papaya*, peeled
200g (7 oz) cooked small prawns, peeled, deveined
¼ cup mint leaves
¼ cup Vietnamese mint leaves*
¼ cup Thai basil leaves, plus extra to serve
2 tbsp roasted peanuts, finely chopped
2 tbsp fried shallots
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
Nuoc cham dressing:
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp white vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- For the nuoc cham dressing, whisk together the ingredients and set aside until ready to serve.
- Use a julienne peeler or knife (watch the video for my safety tips!) to shred the green papaya into fine shards. In a large bowl, toss the papaya, prawns, mint leaves, basil and half the roast peanuts with three-quarters of the dressing.
- Transfer to a serving plate and top with the fried shallots and extra herbs.
- Drizzle over extra dressing if needed.
- Notes: – Green papaya is simply unripe papaya. Search it out at your local Asian grocery store. It needs to be firm and sound hollow when you tap on it. – Vietnamese mint has a more medicinal kind of flavour than regular mint. It’s great if you can find it, but otherwise just add more regular mint and basil.
