Som Tam (Thai Papaya Salad) | Thai Food Recipes

Som Tam is a spicy salad based on unripened papaya with added Thai spices and ingredients originating from the NE of Thailand and the bordering country of Laos. This dish really is the basic, staple diet of millions of rural Thais and is enjoyed across Thailand by Thai people in all walks of life. In the northeast, pickled fresh water crabs are added to the dish and an extremely pungent fermented, raw fish sauce known as 'Baraa' which would be extremely offputting to most westerners. However typically Thai people in other parts of the country and foreigners prefer Som Tam Thai which  is much more digestable.

SomTam Thai - Spicy Papaya Salad

Som Tam is typically eaten with sticky rice or rice noodles and is often eaten as a side dish to barbequed chicken.


Ingredients

1 cup raw unripened papaya (or carrots or cucumber or mixture) chopped and sliced into long thin slices
1/3 cup long green beans about 4cm long
3 cherry tomatoes cur in half
1/4 cup roast (unsalted) peanuts
1 1/2 tbsp. dried tiny fresh water shrimps
2 tbsp. fish sauce
3 tbsp. frsh lime juice (don't use lemon - it's just not the same)
2 tbsp. palm sugar or 1 1/2 tbsp. cane sugar
3-10 small red/green hot chillies (in Thailand hottest chillies are known as Prik Kii Noo or 'mouse poo chillies'!)
2 cloves garlic (not peeled)

Som Tam prepared in large mortar with pestle

Preparation

Pound the chillies and garlic in a large mortar until completely crushed.

Add the green beans, peanuts, shrimps and pound gently with pestlewhile stirring with a spoon.

Add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and mix well.

Add the papaya and tomatoes, and mix gently.






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