Thai · Salad · Medium
Som Tum
Crunchy shredded green papaya pounded with chilies, lime, fish sauce, and peanuts. Spicy, sour, and addictively fresh.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Som Tum, in 5 ideas
- A mortar and pestle is traditional and bruises the ingredients in a way chopping cannot
- Green papaya should be firm and crunchy, not ripe and soft
- Taste as you go, the dressing should make your mouth water
- Palm sugar has a caramel depth that white sugar lacks
- Serve right away, the papaya wilts if it sits in the dressing
What you need
Ingredients
- 1 small green papaya, shredded
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 Thai chilies
- 2 tbsp dried shrimp (optional)
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup green beans, cut in pieces
- 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
How to make it
Directions
- Pound the garlic and chilies in a mortar into a rough paste.
- Add the dried shrimp, fish sauce, lime juice, and palm sugar. Pound and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the green beans and tomatoes and pound lightly to bruise.
- Add the shredded papaya and toss everything together, pounding gently.
- Top with peanuts and serve immediately.
Money saver. Green papaya at an Asian market costs very little and one makes a big batch of salad.