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Vegan Cookbook Love for Veganuary: This Rawsome Vegan Life Cookbook

From ingredients to enjoyment, this recipe makes it easy to create something wonderful.

Prep Time
20 mins
Total Time
20 mins
Servings: 4 -6
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Asian , Vietnamese , Vegan , gluten-free

Ingredients

  • 1 green papaya deseeded and peeled, then sliced into thin strips with a knife or mandoline
  • 3 cloves garlic peeled
  • 2 thai chillies*
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp of vegan fish sauce OR brine from vegan kimchi or sauerkraut See note
  • 2 limes juiced (about 6 tbsp lime juice)
  • 1 cup roasted unsalted peanuts chopped
  • 1 pint of grape tomatoes halved
  • 4-5 sprigs of cinnamon basil Vietnamese basil, but regular basil will work fine
  • A sprinkle or two of black sesame seeds for garnish

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Peel papaya and prepare into thin strips. You can slice by hand or carefully use a mandoline slicer until you get to the seedy core. Once you start hitting the seeds, use a knife to slice the top and bottom of the papaya to get as much of the fruit as you can.
  2. Using a mortar and pestle, mash garlic, chillies, sugar, and salt together until you get a paste. Add the fermented liquid and lime juice, and stir to combine.
  3. Pour over the sliced green papaya and toss to combine. I like to wear vinyl gloves to squeeze and mix everything by hand. It's traditionally all done in a large Thai version of a mortar and pestle, but I don't have that so I do it by hand. Wear gloves, otherwise your hands will have the chilli oil on them and that's no fun, especially if you have cracked hands or cuts like me.
  4. Serve the salad with some roasted unsalted peanuts, grape tomatoes, torn basil, and a dash of sesame seeds.

Notes

  • if you can't handle heat, bring it down to just one for a wee kick, or kick it up to 3 or 4 if you like it spicy!
  • I used kimchi brine as the replacement for fish sauce, which is traditional in this dish. Fish sauce is fermented fish juice (pretty gross actually), but I subbed in liquid from a batch of kimchi to get that complex fermented flavour. Alternatively you can use just a dash of liquid aminos, vegan worchestershire sauce, or simply a little extra salt and water to taste