This simple salad is amazingly delicious. It is difficult to find green papayas, so you will have to search Asian markets for it. You can make the dressing in a food processor as long as you do not pulse it too fine.

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 small red chile, seeds and stem removed, minced.

• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts

• 1/4 cup small dried shrimp (available in Asian markets)

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon palm sugar

• 1 green papaya, peeled, seeds removed, julienned

• 2 ounces green beans, cut into ½-inch pieces

• 1 medium tomato, choppe

Instructions

In a wooden mortar or pestle, crush together the garlic, chile, peanuts and shrimp. Add the fish sauce, lemon juice, and sugar and mix well. In a bowl, combine the papaya, beans and tomato and mix well. Add the dressing from the mortar and toss.

This recipe, from the Mae Sa Valley Resort Cooking School, can be made with chicken or beef. Serve it with sticky rice.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 ounces boneless pork, finely sliced

• 6 pieces dried mushroom, soaked in water for 10 minutes to soften, then coarsely chopped

• 2-inch piece ginger, peel and finely sliced

• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 2 tablespoons beef stock

• ½ teaspoon fish sauce

• ½ small onion, finely sliced

• 1 red chile, seeds and stems removed, finely sliced

• 1 spring onion (green part only, cut into 1-inch pieces

• Ground white pepper

Instructions

In a wok or frying pan, heat the oil until hot. Add the garlic and fry until golden brown. Add the pork, stir and cook for a minute or two until the meat is opaque. Add the mushrooms and ginger and stir thoroughly. Stirring briskly after each addition, add the soy sauces, sugar, stock, fish sauce, onion, and chile. Cook for 30 seconds, transfer to a serving dish, garnish with the spring onion pieces and sprinkle lightly with ground white pepper.

This recipe is courtesy of the Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa. Serve it with rice and Green Papaya Salad, above.

Ingredients

• 4 chicken legs

• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 3 tablespoons green chile paste

• 1 cup coconut cream

• 2 kaffir lime leaves (available in Asian markets)

• 1 ½ cups coconut milk

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 ½ teaspoons fish sauce

• ½ cup diced eggplant

• 1/4 cup chopped basil

• 1 red chile, julienned

Instructions

In a pan, fry the chicken legs in 1 tablespoon oil until done. Remove from the heat. In a separate pan, fry the chile paste in the remaining oil until fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the coconut cream a little at a time and cook until the cream begins to have an oily sheen. Place the chicken and lime leaves in the cream and cook for two minutes. Add the coconut milk, sugar, and fish sauce, and eggplant, and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, remove from the heat and add the basil. Garnish with the julienned chile.

This is the method used by chef Anthony Tuttle at the Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa’s cooking school to prepare those delicious prawns. Serve the prawns with jasmine rice.

Ingredients

The Paste

• 6 fresh Thai bird chiles, or substitute piquins, seeds and stems removed, chopped

• 5 shallots, peeled and chopped

• 10 cloves garlic, chopped

• ½ teaspoon shrimp paste

The Prawns

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 12 large prawns, peeled and deveined, tail on

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

• ½ cup chopped holy basil

Instructions

With a mortar and pestle, pound the paste ingredients together to form a paste. It does not have to be smooth. Place the oil in a wok, heat, and then add the paste and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the prawns and stir-fry until cooked, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and fish sauce and stir. Remove from the heat and add the basil.