About the Blog - Fragments of a Life

This blog will contain things I have written; some of my best photos; and a selection of my favourite recipes. I am truly fortunate to have traveled to and worked in fascinating places, met remarkable people, and seen many of the wonders of planet earth. Friends have urged me to write about these experiences and to publish my photographs. Maybe, one day, these will come together into a book. For now, they will be presented as fragments of a life since I am not yet prepared to "retire" and write. As well, for many years, I have been promising to publish my "cookbook". As I cannot get my act together to edit that all at once, I will start publishing those recipes one by one.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Sirisome’s Green Papaya Salad (Laotian)

Sirisome (Some), my Laotian housemate, made a green papaya salad with a green papaya she brought all the way back to Kabul from California where she went for her last R&R. Here is her recipe which she serves with sticky rice.



1 large green papaya, peeled and shredded
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1 or 2 tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces (5-6 sweet cherry tomatoes are better, but we couldn’t find them here)
2 large cloves garlic
2 small hot red chili peppers, chopped (Laotians like there food really “hot”. You need to see how much chili you can tolerate. Some says her father would use 5 or 6 chilis; I found the 2 more than hot enough)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon shrimp paste
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Juice of a lemon (or lime)
  • In a mortar, pound together the garlic, salt, sugar, chili peppers and shrimp paste.
  • Add the shredded green papaya, carrot and tomato and pound to bruise the vegetables so they absorb the sauce. (Depending on the size of the mortar you have, you might need to do this in batches.)
  • Add the lime juice and fish sauce and continue to pound till well blended.
  • Transfer to a serving dish and serve with sticky rice.


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