This salad was beautifully refreshing, I couldn’t get enough of it. If you don’t like chilli I would recommend not adding the full amount. If you’d like the salad a bit hotter you can always add some chilli powder in at the end. Both the salad and the snapper recipes are from the longrain cookbook.

Green Papaya Salad

Serves 4

2 green bird’s eye chillies

1 clove garlic, peeled

1 tablespoon shaved palm sugar

1 tablespoon dried prawn (shrimp), soaked in warm water for 10 minutes

1 ripe tomato

1 snake bean, cut into 2.5cm pieces

1 tablespoon tamarind

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon fish sauces

4 tablespoon roasted peanuts, crushed

1 medium-sized green papaya, finely shredded, soaked in ice cold water and drained

A handful of coriander

Add the chillies and garlic to a mortar and pestle and pound the paste.

Add the palm sugar and drained shrimp, lightly bruise.

Add the tomato and snake bean.

Pound and bruise, the liquid released will form a light sauce.

Add the tamarind, lime juice and fish sauce.

Taste – it should be sweet, sour and salty. If you think it’s intense, remember that the green papaya is yet to be added.

Add the green papaya and coriander.

With your hand and a spoon, mix to combine all the flavours in the mortar.

Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

Spoon onto a serving plate.

A little fried coconut treat we picked up on Victoria Street, Richmond.

TV On The Radio – DLZ (zSHARE)

Cucumber & Mint Salsa

Serves 4

A handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped

2 small French shallots, roughly chopped

1/2 a Lebanese cucumber, de-seeded and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon wholegrain honey mustard

100ml good-quality extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon caster sugar

2 spring onion, white part only, cut into thin rounds

salt and pepper

Place the mint, shallots and cucumber in a bowl with a pinch of salt.

Add the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, sugar and spring onions.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mix well and leave for 15 minutes.

Figurines – Race You (zSHARE)