Som Tam Thai (Green Papaya Salad)
Shredded green papaya bruised in a clay mortar with garlic, chilli, lime, palm sugar, tomatoes, green beans, dried shrimp and peanuts.
- Region
- Isaan (Northeastern Thailand)
- Condiments
- Fish Sauce, Palm Sugar
- Vegetables
- Bird’s Eye Chilli, Yard-long Beans, Green Papaya, Garlic
- Fruits
- Lime
Ingredients
- 250 g green (unripe) papaya, peeled and shredded into long thin strips
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2–5 bird’s eye chillies
- 1 tbsp dried shrimp, rinsed
- 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
- 3 yard-long beans (or 8 green beans), cut into 3 cm lengths
- 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1½ tbsp palm sugar, finely chopped
- 1½ tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 lime wedges (from the squeezed lime)
- Sticky rice, raw cabbage wedges and extra beans, to serve
Instructions
Som tam is pounded, not tossed. A wooden pestle in a deep clay mortar bruises the papaya just enough to soak up the dressing while staying crunchy. If you don’t have one, use a large bowl and a rolling pin, and press rather than smash.
Som tam Thai is the sweeter, Bangkok-style version with peanuts and dried shrimp. In the northeast (Isaan) it is made with fermented fish sauce (pla ra) and salted crab, and it is much funkier.
Method
- Pound the garlic and chillies to a rough paste in the mortar. Fewer chillies for mild, more for the real thing.
- Add the dried shrimp and half the peanuts and pound lightly to break them up.
- Add the palm sugar and pound until it dissolves into the paste, then add the fish sauce and lime juice. Taste the dressing: it should be sweet, sour and salty in equal measure, then hot.
- Add the beans and pound gently to bruise them. Add the tomatoes and lime wedges and press lightly so they release their juice.
- Add the papaya. Use the pestle in one hand to pound lightly, and a large spoon in the other to turn the salad over from the bottom, for about 30 seconds, until the papaya is coated and just starting to soften.
- Taste again and adjust, then pile onto a plate with the remaining peanuts on top. Serve straight away with sticky rice and raw vegetables.
Cook’s tips
- Make it to order: the salt draws water out of the papaya and it goes limp within 15 minutes.
- No green papaya? Use a mix of shredded cucumber, carrot and green mango, and pound for less time.
Aroy Mak Mak
Aroy Mak Mak is a small team writing about the food of Thailand and its neighbours: recipes you can cook at home, guides to the ingredients behind them, and places worth travelling for. The name means "very delicious" in Thai. Every recipe on the site lists its ingredients, timings and method in full, explains the techniques that matter, and suggests substitutes for ingredients that are hard to find outside Thailand. The guides to regions, condiments, vegetables and fruits explain what things are, how they are used and how to buy and store them. Place pages are researched from current sources, including the latest Michelin Guide Thailand, official websites and maps, and give addresses, opening hours and what to order. Where a detail could not be confirmed, it is left out rather than guessed.