Thai Food- Papaya/Mango Salad

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Yummy Yummy Som Tum Salad

Papaya salad is almost as much a staple part of my diet as rice is. For sure if I eat out and am not given any som tam (papaya salad in Thai), I will soon after be found at a roadside food vendor, correcting the deficiency.

If you lived on a diet of som tam and not much else, it is highly unlikely you would ever become fat. This green papaya salad is light, cooling, full of natural herbs and spices and is really nutritious.

You can find som tam (papaya salad) in all Thai restaurants and thousands of street vendors making this dish fresh infront of you in their carts. I reckon that som tum is the most eaten food here in Thailand.

Some restaurants use mango instead of papaya. Personally though I find mango to be too acidic for this purpose.

Som Tum Tasting Poll 

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This is what a green papaya looks like.

Som Tum Cooking Essentials 

6 Inch Stone Granite Mortar and Pestle 1.5 Cup Capacity

To crush and mix all the ingredients together.

Amazon Price: $36.95 (as of 07/12/2009) Buy Now

Ingredients for this super awesome salad 

Ingredients to serve 4 people:

1 medium sized green papaya
4 small plum tomatoes
1 carrot
3 strands of green beans
10ml tamarind juice
25ml lime juice
2 cloves garlic
50gm prik kee noo (red chili peppers)
10gm brown sugar
25ml nam pla (fish sauce)
25gm dried shrimps
50gm unsalted roasted peanuts

Preparing your salad 

Peel the papaya and shred the green flesh (if you don't have a suitable implement for the purpose a coarse cheese grater may work).

Also peel and shred the carrot.

Chop the green beans into 1 inch pieces.

Put the shredded papaya and carrot in the fridge for a few minutes while preparing the other ingredients.

Soften the dried shrimp in a few mls of boiling water.

Pound the garlic and the red chili peppers together in a pestle and mortar.

Separately pound the peanuts together with the shrimp, but only until coarsely broken up, not reduced to dust or paste.

Mix the tamarind, juice, lime juice, fish sauce and the sugar.

Chop the tomatoes into quarters.

Now mix the shredded papaya, carrot with all the other ingredients and gently pound them together.

Mix all the ingredients together and serve in a bowl. Most restaurants would drain off some of the excess juice before serving, but I usually keep it.


Note: You should reduce the amount of red chili peppers used if you do not like it spicy.

Have a Bite!

What to eat with your salad 

Generally the som tum salad is eaten with sticky rice and grilled chicken. Thai's also have this with grilled or fried pork and green beans.

How To Make Papaya Salad Video Instruction 

THAI FOOD Papaya Salad (som dum)

http://www.thaifoodtonight.com for more Thai cooking video recipes. Dim and Cathy Geefay prepare a Thai salad that's popular on every streetcorner and restaurant in Thailand. Thai recipes, Thai ingredients, Thai cooking instructions included

Runtime: 7:27
93363 views
10 Comments:

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How do you like it? 

Green Papaya vs Raw Mango

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I prefer Green Papaya

absenta says:

Som tum poo pla, som tum with crab and fish sauce

Andre says:

I use carrots as the base as green papaya is not always availible in South Africa

nickupton says:

Papaya with dried shrimp and peanuts, not too keen on the version with raw crab in it though. Sometimes it is prepared with raw carrot in place of the papaya.

Nzz says:

I like green papayas! Actually, I've tasted a similar papaya salad called "Atchara".

Mango for me

Edwin_Clark says:

Raw mango all the way!

mulberry says:

I have to confess, I haven't tried papaya, but I know I like Mango.

 
 
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related info 

Healthy Som Tum Salad Buzz 

Gastronomy Domine: Som tum - Thai green papaya salad
So then: som tum. You might have ordered this dish (and if you haven't, you should; I'd rate it as one of the world's best salads) in a good Thai restaurant. Green papaya makes the base of this salad, its dense, crisp texture made the ...
THAI FOOD Papaya Salad (som dum) | ArticleSphere Answers
juneshop Says: April 20th, 2009 at 5:32 pm. In Thailand we usually use a bigger mortar than this one to make Som Tum. The mortar she used is for making chilli paste. ThoHova Says: April 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm ...
Thai healthy foods: Fruit salad (Fruit-somtum)
Fruit salad (Fruit-somtum). Ingredients: 1.guava (Cube) 2.pineapple (Cube) 3.mango (fha-lun) 4.apple (Cube) 5.grape 6.tomato 7.carrot (Cube) 8.papaya (slice) 9.sugar syrup 10.bird pepper 11.ground nut 12.shrimp 13.lemon 14.fish sauce ...

Like Pappaya Salad? leave your comments here... 

Jimmie wrote...

When I visit Thailand, this is the ONE food I MUST eat. It's not a trip to Thailand without it.

Welcome to the Asian Foods group.

ReplyPosted May 15, 2009

Jimmie wrote...

Shame on you, Rajays! Why is this excellent lens not in the Asian Foods group? I welcome you to join if you want.

You're officially blessed!

ReplyPosted May 15, 2009

clouda9 wrote...

Yummy recipe addition! I will have to try it for sure.

ReplyPosted March 01, 2009

flighty02 wrote...

This sounds really nice, I haven't tried it before but I think this has to go on my list of things to make. Welcome to 'The Cooks Cafe' group

ReplyPosted January 12, 2009

Edwin_Clark wrote...

Great info Rajay! 5 stars lens!

ReplyPosted December 13, 2008

 
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