Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam)
Submitted by ruff86
Som tam, the iconic Thai green papaya salad pounded in a mortar with chilies, garlic, lime, peanuts, and long beans. A bright, fiery, crunchy salad scooped up with cabbage leaves.
YIELD
2 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
20 minREADY
20 minSom tam is the queen of Thai salads. Found everywhere from Bangkok street stalls to high-end restaurants, it’s a perfect collision of textures and flavors: the crisp shredded green papaya, the punch of pounded chilies and garlic, the brightness of lime, the salty depth of soy or fish sauce, and the crunch of roasted peanuts. Every bite is sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and crunchy at once.
Green papaya is the unripe fruit, sold in Asian markets with green skin and crisp white flesh. The flesh is mild and slightly tart, almost cucumber-like in flavor but firmer in texture. If you can’t find green papaya, green mango or even shredded carrots and cucumber make reasonable stand-ins.
The pounding is essential, not optional. A traditional clay mortar (krok) gently bruises the ingredients without pulverizing them, releasing their oils into the dressing while keeping the vegetables crisp. A regular mortar and pestle works fine. Don’t use a food processor; it shreds everything to mush.
Work in stages. Pound the garlic and chilies first to make a paste, then bruise the long beans, then add the papaya. This order lets each ingredient release its flavor at the right moment without overworking anything.
Pro Tips
- Wear gloves when working with Thai chilies. The capsaicin sticks to your hands and burns for hours.
- Adjust chilies to taste. Three small Thai chilies is mid-level Thai heat, which is brutal by Western standards. Start with one if you’re heat-shy.
- Add a splash of fish sauce instead of soy sauce for the most authentic flavor (the recipe uses soy for vegetarian-friendly substitution).
Variations
- Use shredded green mango instead of green papaya for a similar but slightly tarter version.
- Add 4-5 small dried shrimp pounded with the garlic for traditional umami depth.
- Serve with grilled chicken or sticky rice for a complete Thai meal.
Ingredients
Directions
Peel the outer skin from the green papaya and finely shred the flesh on a cheese grater or chop very finely into long thin shreds.
Set aside.
In a mortar, lightly pound the garlic, add the chilis and lightly pound while occasionally stirring with a spoon to prevent the resulting paste from thickening.
Add the long beans and slightly bruise them.
Add the shredded papaya, lightly pound and stir until all the ingredients are blended together.
Add the lemon juice, soy sauce and sugar and stir into the mixture.
Finally add the tomato, stirring once.
Arrange the Chinese cabbage leaves on a serving dish and turn the yam on to them.
Diners should tear off a section of cabbage leaf to use as a scoop for the yam, the two being eaten together.
This dish is especially good with sticky rice.
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