Tam Mak Hoong

Ingredients

Salad

• 500 ggreen (unripe) papaya, peeled and shredded into long threads
• 80 glong beans, cut into 4 cm lengths and bruised
• 2tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 6garlic cloves, peeled
• 6–10fresh red or green bird’s eye chillies
• 1 tsppalm sugar, shaved

Dressing

• 4 tbsppadaek (Lao fermented fish liquid), strained
• 2 tbspfish sauce
• 60 mllime juice, plus 2 spent lime halves
• 1 tspMSG, optional and widely used in Laos
• 2 tbspcrushed roasted peanuts, optional

To serve

• Sticky rice
• Raw white cabbage, cucumber and fresh herbs

Directions

1. Score the peeled papaya lengthways with repeated chops of a cleaver, then shave off the scored surface to produce ragged threads. A julienne peeler works but gives smoother, less absorbent shreds.
2. Soak the shredded papaya in iced water for 10 minutes, then drain and squeeze dry. This crisps it and washes off the bitter latex.
3. In a tall clay mortar, pound the garlic and chillies with a wooden pestle to a rough paste, about 30 seconds. Keep some chilli in visible pieces.
4. Add the palm sugar and long beans and pound 10 more strokes, turning with a spoon between strokes so the beans split and bruise but keep their shape.
5. Add the tomato wedges and press, do not pound, until they weep juice into the base of the mortar.
6. Pour in the padaek, fish sauce and lime juice, and drop in the spent lime halves for their oil. Stir with the spoon to dissolve the sugar.
7. Add the papaya in two handfuls, pounding lightly with one hand while turning with the spoon in the other, about 20 alternating strokes, until every thread is stained brown-orange and limp at the edges but still snapping in the middle.
8. Taste from the mortar. Lao tam mak hoong should be fiercely hot, funky and sour, with sugar only in the background. Turn onto a plate, spoon over the mortar juices and eat immediately with sticky rice and raw cabbage.

Technique

• Padaek is the whole point. The Lao version is dark, murky and pungent where the Thai som tam is sweet, clean and peanut-strewn. Strain the padaek but do not skip it.
• Use a clay mortar with a wooden pestle, never a heavy granite one. Clay is light enough to bruise rather than crush, which is exactly what papaya threads need.
• Make it to order, one plate at a time. Within twenty minutes the salt draws water out and the salad goes limp and watery.
• Padaek is a raw ferment. It is eaten uncooked across Laos, but pregnant eaters and anyone cautious should simmer it for 5 minutes first and cool before using.

Substitutions

• No green papaya: use shredded green mango, cucumber or kohlrabi, all pounded in the same way; reduce the lime slightly for mango.
• Padaek can be approximated with 3 tbsp fish sauce plus 1 tbsp mashed salted anchovy and 1 tbsp of the anchovy oil.

Variations

• Tam mak hoong sai poo, with whole salted field crab pounded in.
• Tam sua, with the salad tossed through soft rice vermicelli.
• Tam mak teng, made with cucumber when papaya is out of season.

History

Lao green papaya salad, pounded with padaek and field crab rather than the dried shrimp and peanuts of the Thai version.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tam Mak Hoong?

Tam Mak Hoong is a salad & side from Laos: lao papaya salad punched up with padaek fermented fish sauce. Lao green papaya salad, pounded with padaek and field crab rather than the dried shrimp and peanuts of the Thai version.

How long does Tam Mak Hoong take to make?

Tam Mak Hoong takes 25 min of preparation and 0 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tam Mak Hoong?

Yes, within limits. No green papaya: use shredded green mango, cucumber or kohlrabi, all pounded in the same way; reduce the lime slightly for mango. Padaek can be approximated with 3 tbsp fish sauce plus 1 tbsp mashed salted anchovy and 1 tbsp of the anchovy oil.

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

Add the tomato wedges and press, do not pound, until they weep juice into the base of the mortar.