Thai green papaya salad is called Som Tum or the foreigner would call it Papaya Pok Pok. The ingredients are pounded and mixed with pestle and mortar which is where the term pok pok came from. There are many variations of papaya salad. Som Tum Thai is the most familiar and well known to the foreigners. Som Tum Laos version are more funky and have a very strong smell of fermented fish sauce(num pla ra) or some added crab paste for seasoning. It's quite unique and extremely pungent which is considered unpleasant for some people. Som Tum can be made with cucumber, carrots and fruits like apple, green mango etc. Som Tum is often served with sticky rice and Thai bbq chicken (Kai yang)
INGREDIENTS
1 big hand full, peeled, shredded, green papaya
10 Cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup Long bean, cut into 1 1/2 inch length
2 tbsp Dried Shrimp
2 tbsp Roasted Unsalted Peanuts
1-3 Thai Chilis
2 cloves Garlic
2 tbsp Lime Juice
2 tbsp Palm Sugar
2 tbsp Fish Sauce
DIRECTIONS
Peel and shredded with a green papaya shredder. Discarding seeds and inner membrane. Set aside.
Trim long beans and cut into 1 1/2-inch length. Cut tomatoes in half.
In a mortar, pound garlic and chilies with a pestle. Add sugar, salt, fish sauce and lime juice. Mix well until sugar is dissolved.
Then add long beans and lightly crush the bean, then add cherry tomatoes. Pound a few times just to get the juice out of the tomatoes.
Add green papaya, dried shrimp and peanuts. Use the pestle to push the mixture down in the mortar and the spatula to push it up so the mixture is mixed well.
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