#6 Som tam (Green Papaya salad), Thailand | Som tam recipe

Thai green papaya salad, known as som tam (ส้มตำ) in Thai, comes on rank 6th in the tastiest food in the world. It is one of the most commonly available and consumed dishes in Thailand.
Throughout cities in Thailand, green papaya salad is one of the staple street food option.
It’s fresh, easy to prepare, and just tastes wonderful. There are various varieties.
It has all the balanced flavors of sweet, spicy, salty, and sour, cooked to perfection on a single plate.

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4-5 Thai chillies (based on desired spicyness)
• 2 tablespoons shelled roasted peanuts
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• ½ - 1 tablespoon palm sugar (can also substitute brown sugar)
• 2 limes 
• 1 tablespoon of dried shrimp (optional)
• 1 - 2 small tomatoes (The som tam tomatoes or sida tomatoes in Thailand are different from regular tomatoes, you could use just 1 normal tomato)
• 1 medium sized green papaya 

To garnish

• Green cabbage
• Thai sweet basil
• More roasted peanuts

Instructions:

1. Wash and peel off green papaya.
2. Using a knife cut papaya into numerous vertical cuts.
3. Add 2 cloves of peeled garlic and chillies  to the mortar (krok). Pound them for a few seconds until the garlic is crushed and chilies are reduced to small bits.
4. Add ½ tablespoon of palm sugar, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and then squeeze the juice from limes into the mortar. Start with less seasoning and add more to your liking.
5. Mix and pound the dressing, making sure the palm sugar gets fully dissolved into the liquid (so no one bites into a chunk of pure palm sugar).
6. Add about 1 tablespoon of roasted peanuts ,1 tablespoon of dried shrimp, and then roughly slice in the tomatoes into the mortar.
7. Pound the mixture for half a minute, lightly breaking up the tomatoes, shrimp, and peanuts. No need to pound too hard.
8. Toss in a big handful of the green papaya shavings. Mix it all together,  using just a spoon and pounding lightly. 
9. Make sure all the green papaya is coated thoroughly with the dressing and that the salad is evenly mixed through.

Notes:

• If you don't have a mortar and pestle, just chop up the garlic and chilies, and prepare everything in a metal or glass mixing bowl.
• Garnish your green papaya salad with a wedge of cabbage ,additional roasted peanuts and sweet basils.
• In Thailand, som tam is eaten with Thai sticky rice. 

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

At NaiveCook we are trying to build a community to discover a cook within everyone. We appreciate help and suggestions to help this community grow.