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AI-generated photograph: A loose tangle of pale green papaya shreds glossy with dressing, split cherry tomatoes, short green beans and crushed peanuts piled high in a shallow celadon green glazed bowl, a few little gem leaves tucked at one side, seen from directly above

Home · Recipes · Som tam Thai, pounded green papaya salad

Isan (north east Thai) · Soups and starters

Som tam Thai, pounded green papaya salad

green papaya · lime and chilli · crushed peanuts

AI-generated photograph

Som tam is green papaya salad: shreds of crisp unripe papaya bruised in a mortar with garlic, chilli, lime, palm sugar and fish sauce, then tossed with green beans, tomatoes, dried shrimp and peanuts. It should taste sour, salty, hot and sweet all at once, and crunch loudly.

Contains: fish, crustaceans and peanuts, as written. Fish (fish sauce), crustaceans (dried shrimp) and peanuts (the peanuts). Most Thai fish sauces are only anchovies, salt and sugar, but a few add wheat, so check the label says nothing beyond those.

Ingredients

  • 1 small green papaya (about 500g), from a Thai or world food shop
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3 red bird's eye chillies (use 1 for a milder salad)
  • 2 tablespoons palm sugar (a soft, fudgy sugar from the sap of palm trees), or light brown sugar
  • 2 and a half tablespoons fish sauce
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes)
  • 2 tablespoons dried shrimp, from a Thai or Chinese shop
  • 100g green beans, cut into 4cm lengths
  • 150g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 40g unsalted peanuts
  • To serve: 1 little gem lettuce, leaves separated

Plan a week with Isan (north east Thai) dishes

Let's cook

  1. Toast the peanuts in a dry frying pan on a medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan, until golden and fragrant. Tip onto a plate to cool, then crush them roughly.
  2. Peel the papaya with a vegetable peeler, cut it in half from top to bottom and scoop out the white seeds. Shred the flesh into long thin strips with a julienne peeler or the coarse side of a box grater. You need about 350g. Keep it in a bowl of iced water while you start the dressing so it stays crisp.
  3. Put the garlic and chillies in a large pestle and mortar and pound to a rough paste. A clay or wooden mortar is traditional, but a deep mixing bowl and the end of a rolling pin work well too.
  4. Add the palm sugar and pound until it melts into the paste. Add the dried shrimp and pound a few times to break them up.
  5. Add the green beans and tomatoes and bruise them gently, just until the tomatoes release some juice. Stir in the fish sauce and lime juice.
  6. Drain the papaya well and add it to the mortar. Pound lightly with one hand while you turn the salad over with a spoon in the other, for about a minute, so the papaya softens slightly and soaks up the dressing.
  7. Taste and balance it: more lime for sour, fish sauce for salty, sugar for sweet, chilli for heat. It should be bold.
  8. Pile onto plates with the lettuce leaves on the side, scatter over the crushed peanuts and serve straight away.

Tips

  • Som tam waits for no one: pound it just before you eat, or the papaya goes limp and watery.
  • No green papaya: a mix of shredded kohlrabi, carrot and cucumber gives a similar crunch.
  • Keep any leftover dressing, without the papaya, covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Swaps

  • No shellfish: leave out the dried shrimp and add a squeeze more lime.
  • No peanuts: leave them out and scatter over a few toasted pumpkin seeds instead.

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

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