Som tam
Som tam is not tossed — it is pounded. The mortar does not break the ingredients down, it bruises them so they release juice and absorb the dressing. That is why this salad tastes different from the same components mixed in a bowl. You can make it without a mortar, but the result will not be the same.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Shredding the papaya 12 min
- Garlic and chilli paste 5 min
- Pounding the salad 8 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneShred the papaya into long threads
Peel the papaya, halve it and scoop out the seeds. Shred the flesh into long, thin threads with a julienne peeler or an ordinary vegetable peeler. The threads should be long — short pieces do not catch the dressing the same way. Shred the carrot the same way and cut the beans into 3–4 cm lengths.
Ingredients: 500 g green papaya · 1 pcs carrot · 100 g green beans · 150 g cherry tomatoes
TipGreen papaya is the unripe fruit, hard and crisp like carrot. A ripe orange one collapses in the mortar.
Long threads, not slices — they carry the dressing.Pound the garlic and chilli
Put the garlic and chillies in the mortar and pound to a coarse paste. Pounding, unlike chopping, crushes the cells and releases more aroma. Add half the peanuts and crush them roughly.
Ingredients: 4 cloves garlic · 3 pcs red chillies · 3 pcs limes · 3 tbsp fish sauce · 2 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp tamarind paste
A coarse paste, not a purée — the pieces should stay visible.Balance the dressing
Add the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and tamarind to the mortar and grind until the sugar dissolves. Taste: it should be sour, salty, sweet and hot all at once, with no single taste dominating.
Ingredients: 4 cloves garlic · 3 pcs red chillies · 3 pcs limes · 3 tbsp fish sauce · 2 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp tamarind paste
TipAdjust a teaspoon at a time. Too hot — add sugar, not lime; too salty — lime, not water.
Bruise the hard vegetables
Add the beans and carrot and strike them a few times with the pestle, turning with a spoon. Do not crush — the point is cracks the dressing can enter. Add the tomatoes and strike twice more. If your mortar is small, do this step and the next in two batches.
Ingredients: 500 g green papaya · 1 pcs carrot · 100 g green beans · 150 g cherry tomatoes
One hand pounds, the other turns with a spoon.Fold in the papaya last
Add the papaya threads and turn them with a spoon, pounding only lightly — 6–8 strikes is enough. The papaya should stay crisp; over-pounded it turns into a wet, limp mass.
Ingredients: 500 g green papaya · 1 pcs carrot · 100 g green beans · 150 g cherry tomatoes
Serve immediately
Tip onto a flat plate along with the juices from the mortar and scatter over the remaining peanuts and the dried shrimp. Som tam is eaten straight away — after a quarter hour the papaya weeps and the salad goes limp.
Ingredients: 60 g peanuts · 2 tbsp dried shrimp
Before you start
Without papaya
Green papaya is hard to find. Substitute firm kohlrabi, green mango, or young carrot with a piece of cucumber.
Without a mortar
Put the vegetables in a bowl and bruise them with a potato masher, turning as you go. Not the same, but closer than simply tossing.
Vegan version
Swap the fish sauce for soy sauce with a little miso paste and leave out the dried shrimp. Add extra peanuts for texture.
