Som Tam Thai Papaya Salad | Original Recipe

Papaya Salad (Som Tam) | ส้มตำ – Recipe

▷ Som Tam papaya salad is a spicy, refreshing papaya salad made with smashed papayas, Thai tomatoes and snake beans.
Originally from Laos, Som Tam is now the most popular salad in Isaan and all over Thailand. In Thailand, papaya salad is eaten practically every day.

Try it out: Thai salad is a real taste experience. Here is my original Som Tam recipe.

In Thailand, there are two “much-loved” Som Tam variations:

1. Som Tam Thai | ส้มตำไทย: Papaya salad with dried prawns and peanuts.
2. Som Tam Phooh | ส้มตำปู: Papaya salad with salted small prawns.

The basic ingredients of Som Tam are always the same, refined into different salad variations. Som Tam is eaten with glutinous rice or rice noodles and a variety of raw vegetable accompaniments.

Other Som Tam spellings include som tum, som dtam, som dtum or papaya pok pok.

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The freshest way is to buy a green papaya at the Asian market, peel it and grate the papaya fruit into fine strips with a vegetable slicer. If you have a papaya slicer, use it of course. Before grating, you should hollow out the papaya. The white seeds inside are not used.

Papaya salad recipe for 2 people.

Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking: 0 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Papaya salad Thai ingredients

for a delicious Papaya Salad

• 200g green raw papaya strands. Always choose a papaya who is really firm. Press the Papaya with your thumb – she should not yield easily.
• 5x Cherry tomatoes or 2 small tomatoes
• 4x Thai chili peppers
• 1x tbsp dried shrimp
• 2x tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 1x medium clove garlic, peeled
• 50g / 2-3 yardlong green bean / snake beans
• 1x tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1x tbsp palm sugar
• 2x tbsp roasted peanuts (unsweetened)

INFO: tsp=teaspoon, tbsp= tablespoon.

You can find green papaya in Asian markets and stores. First, You have to peel the papaya. Then you have to shred the papaya with a julienne shredder tool or a mandolin slicer or a papaya shredder.

Don’t use the white immature seeds inside the papaya.

Cooking Equipment:
Peeler and Julienne Shredder Tool or a Kiwi Pro Slice Peeler
Clay mortar with wooden pestle

Som Tam preparation:

1. First put a clove of garlic and the Thai chillies in a mortar and pestle. The amount of chilli can be chosen according to the desired degree of heat.

2. Then add the chopped snake beans and half of the roasted peanuts and lightly crush with the wooden pestle – do not crush.

3. Add the halved cherry tomatoes or regular tomatoes and crush until the tomato juice comes out.

4. Then add the dried prawns and crush into larger pieces with the wooden pestle.

5. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar. Now lightly crush the vegetable mixture with the wooden pestle and mix gently with the spoon. 6.

6. Then add the papaya shreds to the mortar and mix again gently with the wooden pestle and the spoon.

Add the fish sauce, palm sugar or lime juice and season to taste. Then add the remaining peanuts. Done.

Som Tam preparation in pictures

1. Peel the green papaya and hollow out the inside. Clean with water and then cut into long strips with a papaya slicer or vegetable slicer.

2. Cut the snake beans into pieces about 2.5 cm small. Halve cherry tomatoes or cut normal tomatoes into small pieces.

3. Put the garlic cloves and chillies in a mortar and pestle with a wooden pestle. Add half of the roasted peanuts and crush in the same way.

4. Add the tomatoes and squeeze out the juice. Do not totally crush the tomatoes. Add fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar.

5. Add the papaya strips and lightly crush with a wooden pestle and mix gently with a long spoon.

6. Season again with fish sauce, palm sugar or lime juice to taste. Then add the second half of the peanuts. Done.

7. Portion the papaya salad onto the plates and sprinkle the salad with the roasted peanuts. Enjoy your meal.

Now the salad can be served. “Som Tam Thai” should always be served with a lot of the resulting salad dressing – this is a Thai tradition. To serve, the papaya salad is transferred from the mortar to a bowl.
Serve with sticky rice, rice noodles, grilled chicken and raw vegetables such as lettuce leaves, pak choi, snake beans and Thai basil.

The raw vegetable garnish takes some of the edge off the papaya salad. Glutinous rice and chicken forms the base for the stomach to avoid stomach problems from the Thai chilli spiciness.

“Som Tam” preparation – tips:

You can vary the standard Som Tam recipe to suit your own taste. Omit what you don’t like and add what you like best.

• If you don’t have palm sugar, you can also use normal sugar.
• If you don’t have papaya, you can also use cucumbers, turnips, carrots or kohlrabi.
• You can also omit the peanuts if you like.
• Instead of lime, you can also use lemon.

Vegan/ Vegetarian:
For a vegetarian Som Tam version, simply omit the prawns and use soybean oil or salt instead of fish sauce. Green papaya is very healthy and contains many papaya enzymes.

By the way
… do you know the spicy seafood salad Yum Ruam Mit Talay?
You absolutely have to try it …

… Seafood Salad …

You can also try this delicious salad at any Thai restaurant near you …

… an try Thai Massaman Curry