Som Tam (green papaya salad)

By: Christine Morrow

Cut the snake beans into 2 cm lengths and steam them in a microwave steamer for 3 minutes. Allow them to cool.
Peel the green skin from the papaya/pawpaw. Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Then shred the fruit by scraping it with a julienne peeler or else cutting long matchstick-thin shreds using a cook's knife.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Squeeze out their seeds and juice into a small bowl and reserve their juice for the sauce while keeping their flesh for the salad.
To the tomato juice and tomato seeds, add two tablespoons of Squid brand fish sauce. Add one tablespoon of Lee Kum Kee Chilli Garlic Sauce and half a tablespoon of Lee Kum Kee Fine Shrimp Sauce. To taste: add crushed garlic and the juice of one or two limes. Grate a little palm sugar into the dressing. Keep tasing and testing and adjusting for a balance between sweet sour and salty flavours.
Toss the shredded papaya, the snake beans, the Thai Basil leaves and the flesh of the cherry tomatoes together. Feel free to add some fresh sliced cucumber, bean sprouts, green spring onion slices, or a few leaves of European Mint for crispness, freshness and zing.
Dress the salad with the sauce. Present it in a bowl with wedges of lime and a topping of toasted peanuts for crunch and a mild and creamy flavour to complement and offset the sharp zing and sourness of the unripe pawpaw and the fresh and aromatic flavour of the Thai Basil