Young Papaya Kerabu with Ginger Flower

Ingredients

3 cloves garlic

3-5 bird’s eye chillies (cili padi), cut

2 tablespoons dried shrimps, washed and drained

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons palm sugar

300g unripe papaya, julienned

1 ginger flower (bunga kantan), finely sliced

2 tomatoes, halved and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons roasted peanuts

2 limes, extract juice

1 tablespoon fish or squid sauce

1 teaspoon salt
Method
In a large mortar, pound together the garlic and chillies. Add the dried shrimps, sugar and palm sugar and pound to break up the dried shrimps slightly.

Add the papaya, ginger flower, tomato slices and peanuts and crush gently, using a metal spoon to help turn the kerabu.

Toss well with the lime juice and fish sauce, and season to taste with salt. Dish out onto a serving plate.

Note
The Kedah kitchen is no stranger to Thai flavours. Save for the use of ginger flower, this green papaya salad is similar to the Thai Som Tam. Sweet, sour and hot, this kerabu makes a good appetite booster, with the ginger flower adding its sweet, inimitable aroma