Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam) Recipe

 Ingredients: 

1 clove garlic

1 or 2 red bird’s eye chilies

2 tablespoons dried shrimp

Thai palm sugar, to taste

1/4 cup roasted peanuts

6 oz green papaya strands

6 cherry tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes)

1/3 cup long green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths

Fresh lime juice to taste

Fish sauce, to taste

Method:

1. Pound the garlic and bird’s eye chilies until they form a smooth paste.
2. Add the dried shrimp and pound until the pieces are broken up, but not completely pulverized.
3. Add the palm sugar (cut into small pieces), maybe 2-3 teaspoons at first. More to taste later.
4. Add the peanuts and lightly pound until they are broken into tiny pieces, but not to the point where they form a thick paste.
5. Add the green beans and crush them with the mortar.
6. Add the papaya and tomatoes and pound on them. Crush the tomatoes to release their juices and give their flavour and color.
7. Add a couple of teaspoons of fish sauce and a couple of teaspoons of lime juice to the mix.
8. Have in one hand a large spoon to help flip things over in and scrape down the sides of the mortar while your other hand pounds away with the pestle.
9. Keep pounding and flipping for a few seconds, add more fish sauce, lime juice, or palm sugar as needed.
10. Dish out and serve immediately.