Spicy Thai salad

Have I mentioned that I once booked a month long trip to Thailand drunk? Well I did. Feeling sick and like I’d swallowed an ash tray, I remember my eyes squinting at about 8 confirmation emails about my trip. Trip? What trip?… Oh dear.
I scroll down one of the emails confused and dizzy, where the hell am I supposed to be going? Thailand it seems. To do what? Work with turtles. Okay, well that doesn’t sound too bad, now what’s that number? Is that a reference number? Oh wait, there’s a symbol in front of it, is that a pound sign?… £2,800… TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED POUNDS!!!
After I’d finished being sick, I came to the conclusion that it could have been a lot worse. A ‘turtle’ project, could very easily have been a ‘lion’ project and I’m the kind of person who would totally get mauled by a lion.
So anyway, eight months later, off I went to Thailand to save the turtles. Not sure how many I actually saved, only saw a couple but I did get a very nice tan and ate lots of lovely Thai food. I was lucky enough to have all my meals cooked for me by an elderly Thai woman called Pah Nii. Most days, she’d make me a papaya salad that consisted of shredded unripe papaya, chilli, garlic, peanuts and lime. Finding an unripe papaya in London though was always going to be tricky, so instead, I’ve substituted it for raw courgette, which has a similar texture. It’s not quite as good as Pah-Nii’s, but it’s close. Enjoy!

Spicy Thai salad
Serves 2 / Hands on time 15 mins / Total time 15 mins / V🌶
You’ll need: Pestle and mortar
For the salad
2 medium courgettes, grated (or a large green papaya) 
Handful of green beans, cut into quarters
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 tbs dry roasted peanuts
1 lime cut into quarters
For the dressing
1 garlic clove, peeled
½ medium red chilli, seeds in (less if you don’t want it too spicy)
1 tbs dry roasted peanuts
2 tbs lime juice
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp light brown sugar

Method
1. Grate the 2 courgettes and put in a large bowl, along with the chopped tomatoes and the green beans. Mix and put to one side.
2. In a pestle and mortar, mash together the chilli and the garlic with a good pinch of salt (no need to pre-chop these, mashing will combine into a paste). Keep mashing and bashing for a few minutes until you have a paste. Add a tbs of peanuts and continue to mash for another minute (it’s okay if the paste is a bit grainy).
3. Add the sugar, a tbs of soy sauce and 2 tbs of lime juice to the paste and continue to mash until incorporated.
4. Roughly chop the dry roasted peanuts and add them to the courgettes and give the salad a stir. Pour over the dressing and stir again until well dressed. Pour onto plates and serve with limes wedges.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V– Vegetarian    🌶– Spicy