Som Tam

Som Tam is a Thai-style Green Papaya Salad. A popular street food, Som Tam can be found in roadside stalls, markets and many restaurants in Thailand. There are many styles of Som Tam, and it is believed to have originated in Laos.

Isaan Som Tam is made by crushing small crabs (Som Tam Pu) and is always extraordinarily hot! My Som Tam is more like Som Tam Thai, which contains peanuts.

My papaya was green on the outside but getting quite a pinky orange on the inside. It was still firm enough to grate, however, and very yummy.

Cooking Thai food is always about taste. I don’t follow recipes; I just do it to taste. What follows is what I did the last time I made Papaya salad, but when making the dressing remember to mix it, then taste it and add the salt, sour and sweet flavours to taste as needed.

Table of Contents

Ingredients

Dressing

2 Tbs fish sauce
3 Tbs lime juice
2 Tbs palm sugar (or brown sugar)
3 cloves of garlic
2 small hot chillies

Salad

1 small papaya, peeled and grated
1 small carrot, peeled and grated
1 large red chilli, deseeded and finely julienne
6 beans, very finely sliced
1 tomato, chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced
a handful of bean sprouts
5 Tbs tiny dried shrimp (crushed a little in the mortar)
2 – 3 Tablespoons roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Method

For the dressing

Place the first three ingredients of the dressing into a jar. Give the dressing a hearty shake. Then sample the dressing. You should be able to taste the salt of the fish sauce, the sourness of the lime and the sweetness of the sugar. Adjust your dressing until you are happy with it by adding more of what is needed, i.e. sour, sweet or salty.

With a mortar and pestle, I crushed the garlic and red chillies and added them to the jar with the dressing. Shake again and place in the refrigerator until needed.