Pad Thai with Shredded Green Papaya

I have had Pad Thai in many ways, from restaurants, grocery delis, microwavable dinners, and box dinners. It is a national dish of Thailand and traditionally made with rice noodles. It was promoted by Thai Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram in the 30’s and 40’s. It was part of a campaign to get the Thai people to stop eating Chinese wheat noodles and start eating rice noodles, since Thailand was a major producer of rice. There is evidence that the dish is possibly of Chinese origin. No matter what the origin it has become a national dish and is synonymous with Thai street food.

I personally prefer rice noodles to wheat due to my intolerance of wheat. I also have been trying to eat fewer carbohydrates. My mom brought the idea of using green papaya after we bought one. I thought we were going to go obvious with Thai green papaya salad. Mom wanted Pad Thai. We picked up a device that does noodle like shreds.

Pad Thai with Shredded Green Papaya

I made it with mom on June 14, 2016. We ended up blending two recipes. The main reason for that was several ingredients on the main recipe were missing the exact amounts and we did not want to guess. The reason we did not want to guess was that one of the ingredients was Thai chili powder. Guessing the amounts of that could be disastrous. We took a recipe calling for rice noodles and substituted green papaya shreds. The ingredients were tamarind water, fish sauce, palm sugar, green papaya, canola oil, pork, sweet pickled radish, Thai ground chili powder, eggs, bean sprouts, garlic chives, and garnished with lime juice and peanuts. On the second and third days of the dish we added shrimp. We added shrimp again on the third day, because mom thought there was not enough shrimp. The dish also called for dried shrimp, but we did not have that particular item.

Since having this, I now prefer the green papaya version to the rice noodle version. I love rice, but low carbohydrate versions are better overall. Both versions are good for those on a gluten-free diet. There is something one should be careful with if going gluten free. Not all Thai fish sauces are gluten free. If you are making this gluten free, you need to find a gluten free brand. I have noticed that the traditional version of Thai dishes tend to be more sour than the versions found in restaurants in the U.S. I like the increased sourness in this version of Pad Thai it works very well. It  is a bit more sour due to the green papaya. Mom and I loved this. Will I make it again? Dang Skippy, I will.

Green Papaya Pad Thai