Monday, January 18, 2010

Som Tam -Thai Green Papaya Salad

Som Tam or Som Dom or Tam Mak Hoong or even Pok Pok as I have read in some sites is a simple green/raw papaya salad made traditionally with palm sugar,shrimp paste,fish sauce and roasted peanuts.The dish is supposed to combine the four main dishes of Thai - sour lime ,chili pepper,salty fish sauce or soy sauce and sweet sugar.This is served as a side to sticky rice .I have adapted my version from here where there were suggestions for the vegetarian/vegan version.

Ingredients:
Raw /Green Papaya: 1 cup shredded

Garlic : 2 small cloves
Cherry Tomatoes: 3+
Fresh and preferably young Green Beans: 2+
Green Chillies/ Serrano Chillies: 1+

Lime Juice: 2 tsp
Soy Sauce: 1 tbsp
Sugar: 2-3 tsp

Preparation:
If using whole raw papaya,then peel,wash and chop it into smaller pieces easier to shred and also discard the seeds.To remove the acidity,you can dip the papaya pieces in water for 10 minutes before shredding.Shred the papaya into a bowl.Peel the garlic cloves and halve the cherry tomatoes.Also wash and chop the beans into smaller pieces.

In a mortar and pestle,add the garlic cloves and crush/pound with a pestle.To this add the beans and the halved cherry tomatoes.Pound till the juices oozes out of tomatoes and the beans look bruised.To this add whole chillies and pound again till the hotness of chillies is released.

Add this to a big bowl and mix with shredded papaya and lime juice,soy sauce and sugar.Toss well .You can also mix the salad directly in the mortar and pound it well so that the flavours blend.

The salad is terrific and I have already made it again and again.The ingredient quantities can be adjusted as per taste.The salad taste best when all the ingredients are fresh and young especially the green beans.If it is not tender then some may have difficulty chewing on raw beans.The papaya shines through and I never before tried it this simple way.You can make it beforehand or serve right then or whatever way you wish.Also another think is we are not directly adding salt in this.Salt comes from soy sauce and can be controlled.

The terrific salad is on way to NCR:Thai Soups/Salads hosted this time by Lisa.


15 Comments:

Nithya said...

Wow.. so different and interesting :)

FH said...

Love green Papaya.

Priya Suresh said...

Absolutely delicious..lovely salad..

chef and her kitchen said...

I love this a lot..once I tried this in a thai restaurant,I just loved the taste of it..it had even some green mango ..

Bombay Foodie said...

Very interesting salad. Looks great too!

Usha said...

Such an interesting salad, looks delicious !

Cham said...

I ve seen this one but never tasted! Good Thai choice!

Rachana said...

Saw your post for the portuguese event hosted by Priya, and gotta chance to discover another lovely blog:) The papaya salad looks good and is healthy too:)

Cheers and Do visit,
Rachana
rachanakothari.blogspot.com

Rachel said...

I like that you risk trying all the cuisines.. I still have a long way in doing that.

Shama Nagarajan said...

delicious delight

Tina said...

New and interesting salad....

Vrinda said...

salad with papaya is new to me...sounds good,i think i am first time here,will be back often..

Lisa Turner said...

Sounds very refreshing! Thanks so much for your entry.

Red Chillies said...

When I first saw green papaya salad, I thought hmm..... not sure. But then when I looked at the picture I changed my mind. The grated papaya looks so much like raddish. Next time I get a green papaya I will try this.

Cynthia said...

Most of the papayas on sale around here is always ripe as we are not accustomed to eating the green version but I really must go in search of one given all the green papaya salads I have been seeing on blogs.

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