Pawpaw salad (tum mahk hoong)

Ingredients

• 1 green pawpaw
• 10 bird's eye chillies
• 4 garlic cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp shrimp paste (see Note)
• ¼ tsp crab paste (see Note)
• 10 sliced cherry tomatoes
• 3 snake beans, sliced into 3cm pieces
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp padaek (see Note)
• 1 tbsp sugar

To serve

• raw cabbage wedges
• pork skin crackers (see Note)
• lemon wedges

Instructions

Peel and rinse the pawpaw, then finely shred using a mandolin. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the chillies, garlic and salt together. Stir in the shrimp paste and crab paste, then add pawpaw, cherry tomatoes, snake beans, lime juice, fish sauce, padaek and sugar. Using the pestle, mix thoroughly. Serve with raw cabbage wedges, pork skin crackers and lemon wedges.

Note

• Padaek (Lao fermented fish sauce) is a pungent pickled fish condiment. Substitute with extra fish sauce, if desired. Padaek, shrimp paste, crab paste and pork skin crackers are available from Asian food shops.

Photography by Tom Donald

As seen in Feast magazine, Mar 2014, Issue 29. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.