Green Papaya Salad

If Thai food were laid out as one of those nutritional pyramids they showed you in health class, green papaya salad would be at the bottom, right above rice. In other words: It is fundamental. You can eat it by itself, or with rolled-up balls of sticky rice, or with barbecued meats like they do in the Isaan region of Thailand. As with fried rice, it’s an infinitely riffable blank slate, and almost every cook in every region has a way to customize it. You can trick out som tum with fermented fish sauce, raw blue crabs, salted rice paddy crabs, waterbugs, hog plums, and a wide array of other Thai ingredients. But all those things start with the essential balancing act of lime, sugar, fish sauce, and chiles that make som tum what it is. The basic appeal of this recipe is less the papaya and more the dressing, so feel free to experiment with shredded green cabbage, shaved radish, peeled cucumber, or unpeeled green apple (soak the latter in water and a little lime juice after julienning so it doesn’t turn brown). Or leave out the green papaya part altogether and increase the amounts of green beans, tomatoes, and carrots.

Ideally, you’ll want a mortar and pestle when you make papaya salad. Find a lightweight version made out of clay or plastic—the heavy-duty granite versions are used for curry pastes. Much like sushi chefs or bartenders who slap herbs before serving them, your goal should be to bruise the ingredients to release their essence without destroying them in the process. If for some reason you’re unable to get hold of a mortar and pestle, you will still be able to make a killer papaya salad. You’ll build the dressing in a food processor or blender first, then transfer it to a large bowl where you’ll do the “bruising” part.