Green Papaya Salad (som tam)
A delicious crunchy exotic salad using the unripe papaya, or 'green' papaya. This is a typical salad enjoyed by Thai people all over Thailand.
Preparation:
- In a mortar, roughly pound the garlic and chillies.
- When crushed to a rough paste, add the dried shrimps (or omit if unavailable) and pound until smooth.
- Add the beans and peanuts and pound, until the beans are bruised and the peanuts are roughly crushed.
- Add the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and stir together. Add the tomatoes and bruise gently with the pestle.
- In a large mixing bowl place the shredded green papaya and shredded carrot and mix in the dressing. Ideal served with grilled meats.
Useful tip:
It’s important to keep tasting when cooking Thai food... more
In thailand they use a wooden pestle and mortar to make this dish, as it enables the cook to bruise the vegetables more gently.