Tam mak hoong

Ingredients

Quantities for 4 servings.

• 600 g Green papaya, shredded
• 4 tbsp Padaek or fish sauce
• 3 piece Limes
• 4 clove Garlic
• 6 piece Bird's eye chillies
• 150 g Cherry tomatoes
• 100 g Yard-long beans
• 1 tbsp Palm sugar
• 100 g Thai aubergines, optional
• to taste Salt

Method

1. Peel the papaya and shred it into long fine strips with a knife or a som tam grater.
2. Pound the garlic and chillies in the mortar into a coarse paste.
3. Add the cut beans and bruise them lightly with the pestle.
4. Add the tomatoes and crush them until their juice runs.
5. Add the padaek, lime juice and palm sugar and mix with the pestle and a spoon.
6. Add the papaya and work the pestle, turning with the spoon, for two minutes, until the fibres soften.
7. Taste and adjust for sourness, salt and heat. Serve with sticky rice.