Thai Apple Salad

This dish is inspired by my travels to Thailand. ‘Som Tum’ is a fantastic dish, it is sweet, fiery, tart and refreshing. Som Tum is made with green papaya, sometimes it can be difficult to get hold of green papaya so I have substituted green papaya for Granny Smith apples for my Thai salad.

Ingredients

Serves  4

100g shredded Granny Smith apples

1 garlic clove

1 – 2 fresh red chilli (depending on how hot you like it)

2 tomatoes

1 tsp palm sugar (or any sugar substitute)

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 – 1 1/2 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp roasted peanuts

2 tsp of dried shrimps

1 tsp of oil

Method

1. Put a small frying pan on a medium to high heat.
2. Add the oil and gently heat, add in the shrimps and gently fry until golden brown.
3. Tip the shimps into a bowl and add the peanuts and allow them to brown.
4. Tip the peanuts out, roughly chop and set aside.
5. Put the garlic and chilli into a mortar and pound well.
6. Add the tomato, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and pound the mixture into a rough paste. It should be a balance of sweet, salty and fiery. Adjust if necessary.
7. Cut the apples into narrow matchsticks and add them to a bowl.
8. Toss the dressing and the apples together, sprinkle the shrimps and peanuts and mix well.