Som Tam

Ingredients

Salad

• 400 ggreen papaya, peeled and hand-shredded into long threads
• 2garlic cloves, peeled
• 4–8Thai bird’s eye chillies
• 3 tbsproasted peanuts
• 2 tbspdried shrimp
• 60 gyard-long beans, cut in 3 cm lengths
• 8cherry tomatoes, halved

Dressing

• 2 tbsppalm sugar, shaved
• 3 tbspfish sauce
• 3 tbsplime juice (about 2 limes), plus a squeezed spent lime half
• 1 tbsptamarind water (optional)

To serve

• Wedge of white cabbage
• Handful of raw yard-long beans
• Sticky rice

Directions

1. Shred the papaya the Thai way: hold the peeled fruit, chop rapid parallel cuts into the flesh with a heavy knife, then shave off the loose threads. A julienne peeler is the honest substitute.
2. Soak the shreds in iced water for 10 minutes, then drain and spin or pat very dry. This makes them crisp and stops the salad going watery.
3. In a clay mortar with a wooden pestle, pound the garlic and chillies to a rough paste – you want them broken, not pureed, so bites of raw chilli remain.
4. Add the palm sugar and pound until it dissolves into the paste, then add the dried shrimp and half the peanuts and crack them coarsely.
5. Drop in the yard-long beans and bruise them with 5–6 strikes until they split but hold their shape.
6. Add the tomatoes and press them just enough to release juice, then pour in the fish sauce, lime juice and tamarind water and drop in the spent lime half for its bitter oils.
7. Add the papaya and now switch technique: pound gently with the pestle while turning and lifting with a spoon in the other hand, about 20 strokes, until every thread is coated and slightly bruised but still crunchy.
8. Taste and adjust – it must read sour, then salty, then sweet, then hot. Pile onto a plate with the juices, scatter the remaining peanuts and serve with cabbage, raw beans and sticky rice.

Technique

• The pestle bruises rather than crushes. If the papaya goes limp and the juices turn cloudy you have pounded too hard; the goal is crunch carrying flavour.
• A wooden pestle and clay mortar are used because a stone mortar is heavy enough to pulverise the fruit. Improvise with a mixing bowl and the end of a rolling pin if needed.
• This peanut-and-dried-shrimp version is som tam Thai, the Bangkok style. Isaan cooks make som tam pu pla ra with salted crab and fermented fish and no peanuts at all.

Substitutions

• Unripe green mango, kohlrabi or shredded carrot and cucumber all work when green papaya is unavailable – reduce the lime slightly for mango.
• Palm sugar can be replaced with soft light brown sugar, though the caramel note is less rounded.

Variations

• Som tam pu – with salted black crab pounded in, funky and briny.
• Tam sua – som tam mixed with khanom jeen rice noodles, eaten as a full meal.

History

Pounded green papaya salad from Isan and Laos; papaya arrived with Portuguese traders, and migrant workers carried the dish to Bangkok.

Frequently asked questions

What is Som Tam?

Som Tam is a salad & side from Thailand: pounded green papaya salad with lime, chili, peanuts and dried shrimp. Pounded green papaya salad from Isan and Laos; papaya arrived with Portuguese traders, and migrant workers carried the dish to Bangkok.

How long does Som Tam take to make?

Som Tam takes 20 min of preparation and 5 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Som Tam?

Yes, within limits. Unripe green mango, kohlrabi or shredded carrot and cucumber all work when green papaya is unavailable – reduce the lime slightly for mango. Palm sugar can be replaced with soft light brown sugar, though the caramel note is less rounded.

What is the most important thing to get right in Som Tam?

Taste and adjust – it must read sour, then salty, then sweet, then hot. Pile onto a plate with the juices, scatter the remaining peanuts and serve with cabbage, raw beans and sticky rice.