Thai Green Papaya Salad- a classic crunchy flavourful salad from Thailand
Som Tum salad is a classic fresh salad , popular for its bold taste and tangy flavours. It combines all four flavours- sweet, sour, salty and tangy. It is a from thai cuisine and made using raw green papaya.
It is among the most popular and ordered recipe on each Thai restaurant order. It is also sold as street food in bangkok and thailand. This salad is easy to make as well as light on stomach.
The most important thing to make a perfect som tum salad is to balance the flavours of it. The spicy and sour flavours are important in it so need to balance both. Secondly the ingredients are pounded gently in a mortar and pestle to release the flavours. The name SOM Means -Sour and Tum meaning- Mortar and pestle.
The other ingredients’ needed in thai som tum salad are roasted peanuts, long beans or French beans, thai red chilies, lemon, tamarind pulp, jaggery or palm sugar, tomatoes , thai basil OR fresh coriander, fresh bean sprouts and few carrots can also be added. Instead of fish sauce we can use soy sauce or Tamari.
Most of the ingredients are easily available in Indian kitchen so you can easily make it .There are few more variation of making som tum salad- instead of papaya OR with papaya you can use raw mango,zucchini ,carrot, cucumber, Shredded cabbage, bell peppers, snow peas etc.
How to make Juliennes from raw papaya-
1- You can make cuts with a fine knife and then shave them off , its the traditional way of doing.
2- Use a julienne peeler and make them easily.
How to make som Tum salad
Peel the raw papaya and them make juliennes from it. soak them in ice cold water and till then make the dressing.
Chop long beans in 1 inch pieces and keep aside.
In an mortar and pestle crush the thai bird eye chili, now add few long beans and crush again.
Add jaggery and soya sauce in the mortar and crush again. now add the peanuts and crush again.
Now add lemon juice, tamarind paste and salt, add the lemon peel also and crush slightly it will also release its aroma.(you don’t have to eat the peel, it’s only for flavour)
Drain the shredded papaya from the water and place on a towel to absorb the extra moisture, the papaya should be dry before adding in the slad.
Now add the sliced cherry tomatoes in the mortar and pestle and crush them slightly
If your mortar Pestle is not big enough then do this process in batches or just crush tomatoes using your fingers.
Now add the papaya and crush them slightly so all the flavours are absorbed in papaya also. crush 3-4 times till papaya get little wilted. Serve immediately , garnish with some peanuts.
Adjust the quantity of bird eye chili and lemon juice as per your taste preferences.
Serve this salad with some sticky rice or enjoy just as salad. for packing in your tiffin or lunch box , keep the dressing separately and mix only when you want to have it.
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Thai Green Papaya Salad | Som Tum
Ingredients
for the salad
- 3 cup Green papaya shredded
- 4 Long beans/ Barbati
- 1/3 cup Roasted peanuts
- few slices Carrot / Gajar
- 4 tbsp Fresh Coriander / Cilantro / Hara Dhaniya
- 8 Cherry tomatoes
salad dressing
- 3 Thai bird eye chili
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice / Nimbu Ka Ras
- 2 tsp Dark soya sauce
- 1 tbsp Tamarind Pulp/ Imli
- 1 tbsp Jaggary / Gud *
- to taste Salt / Namak
- 1/4 tsp Cooking Oil
Instructions
- Peel the green papaya and make juliennes either with knife or use a julinner maker
- Soak the julinnes in ice cold water to make them crisp.
- Roast the peanuts and chop beans in 1 inch pieces.
- In the mortar and pestle add the thai bird eye chili and pound it roughly , then add the beans and crush again slightly.
- Add jaggery and tamarind and crush to melt them.
- Now add peanuts and crush few times.
- Add lemon juice, its skin and salt and crush few times.
- Drain the papaya from the ice water bath and spread on a towel to absorb all the extra water.
- Add shredded papaya and sliced cherry tomatoes in the mortar and gently crush them till they looks slight soft and wilted, so all the juices will be absorbed in the papaya shreds.
- If your mortar is not big enough then mix the dressing do this all process in batches or crush with your fingers and keep adding the dressing.
- Once done serve it immediately for best result.
- Serve with sticky jasmine rice or just as a salad.
- Garnish with thai basil and few peanuts.