Som Tam Thai from Bangkok
Papaya salad based on Tuk’s original recipe
Som Tam Thai (
We learned how to make Som Tam Thai ourselves from Tuk in her cooking course in Bangkok many years ago. Now we’ve come across the recipe from there again and have been craving it again.
Ingredients for one serving
- 100g green, unripe papaya
- 3 tbsp dried shrimp
- 6 cloves Thai garlic (or 1-2 cloves european)
- 3-6 Thai chilis
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- one yard long bean
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- some coriander leaves
Preparation
You will definitely need a large clay mortar for the papaya salad. You can buy a Som Tam mortar in Asian stores, on the internet or - like us - directly in Thailand and hope that it survives the journey in your hand luggage. Only one portion at a time is prepared in the mortar. Som Tam for several people can therefore take a while.
The dried shrimps must be soaked in lukewarm water beforehand so that they can be crushed better in the mortar.
Be careful with the chilies! The chilies give off a lot of heat when crushed. Therefore, start with just a few chilies the first time, perhaps even just one pod, and then “work your way up”. A quantity of six chilies is already beyond the pain threshold for me.
First peel the papaya and cut into thin strips. You can do this with a papaya peeler from the Asian store or with a large Asian knife. Use the latter to chop parallel strips into the papaya and then cut fine slices vertically, similar to cutting onions, only larger.
Next, cut the cherry tomatoes into halves. Cut the raw yard long bean into pieces about one centimeter in size.
Now it’s time to get started: put the chillies and garlic in the mortar and pestle. Add the dried shrimps and continue to crush. Then add the chopped yard long bean and continue to pound with less force.
Then add the palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and continue to pound gently until the palm sugar melts.
Finally, add the papaya strips and tomatoes and continue to gently pound until the last ingredients have softened a little and everything is well mixed.
Serve the som tam on a plate and garnish with fresh vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage leaves.
It goes perfectly with an ice-cold Thai beer!
