Green papaya pounded with bird's eye chili, lime, and fish sauce at Oklahoma City's Ma Der Lao Kitchen, reflecting the Lao community that arrived after 1975.

Lao papaya salad came to OKC when Lao and Hmong refugees resettled after the Vietnam War in the late 1970s and 1980s. The Lao community established restaurants and grocery stores preserving homeland traditions. The salad is a village staple made by pounding unripe green papaya with chili, lime, fish sauce, and tomatoes in a clay mortar for a sour-spicy-salty balance. Chef Jeff Chanchaleune at Ma Der Lao Kitchen in the Plaza District received a James Beard Award nomination for his version, served with sticky rice.

Where to eat Lao papaya salad (tam mak hung) in Oklahoma City

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Make it at home

Serves 220 minIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 300g green papaya, peeled and shredded into thin matchsticks
  • 2 to 4 bird's eye chili peppers, to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 1 tsp palm sugar or light brown sugar
  • 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 Thai eggplants, quartered (optional)
  • 2 tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
  • Sticky rice for serving

Method

  1. In a large clay or stone mortar, pound the chili peppers and garlic to a rough paste. Add the sugar and fish sauce and stir to combine.
  2. Add the eggplant pieces if using and lightly bruise them with the pestle, then add tomatoes and lightly bruise as well so they release their juices.
  3. Add the shredded papaya and lime juice. Use the pestle to lightly pound and mix everything together, turning the salad with a spoon between poundings. The papaya should be lightly bruised but retain some crunch.
  4. Taste and adjust: add more fish sauce for salt, lime for sour, or sugar for sweetness. Transfer to a plate and top with crushed peanuts. Serve immediately with sticky rice.

Editor tip. Do not substitute a food processor: the mortar bruises the papaya without destroying it, which is what gives the salad its characteristic crunchy bite.

Common allergens: Fish, Tree Nuts.