Thai Green Papaya Salad - Som Tam

The original name of this dish is Som Tam. As far as I know the name has something to do with the pounding in a mortar. Sorry, but I don't have it at home.... So, I do it my way... trying to follow the traditional preparation quite closely. 
 
I prepared this dish twice this week and with two different papayas of different levels of ripeness. The problem was that I just couldn't find really green (unripe) papaya in Italy. First one was not ripe but already a bit orangey... 

As per original recipe, papaya should be greenish-white inside with white seeds, so choose the one that is most unripe and green. I finally found one that is really green while shopping at my favourite market!!!  But if you cannot find the right one, buy as I said the most unripe! The one that is green and hard.


 
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 2


250g green papaya (1/2 medium one)
15-20 green beans
5 cherry tomatoes
1 lime 
1 garlic clove
1 tea spoon palm sugar
3 tbs fish sauce
chilli
1tbs dried shrimps / shrimp stock
basil
cilantro / parsley
peanuts


As I used two different types of papaya for two variants of the same salad I will show them both in this recipe.
   
1. Peel papaya skin, cut it into halves and remove the seeds.  

2. As Thai people traditionally use a knife to shred papaya, I tried to use the peeler for vegetables and not a grater or mandolina.
To do so, you need to make some vertical cuts 4-5 mm one from the other, without cutting papaya through. 

Then peel papaya into thin and narrow stripes. For two servings you will need just a half of a medium papaya.

3. Boil the green beans for 5-7 minutes, cool them down and cut them 2cm long.
4.  Cut cherry tomatoes into halves and then into thin slices. 


Till now it was quite simple, now it's time to prepare the sauce...
The balanced taste of this sauce should combine: sweetness + saltiness + sourness + "spiciness".

5. Melt 2-3 teaspoons of the palm sugar in some lime juice.
6. Save some side cuts of the lime and squeeze the rest. Add it to the palm sugar and mix well.

7. As per the original recipe the dried shrimps are used to season the salad. Just squeeze them with the fingers to reduce them into powder.
Note: If you don't have dried shrimps, you may use some shrimp stock instead, melting it with the  palm sugar. You will need just the size of 1cm cube of it.

Note: Dry shrimps are the tiniest shrimps you have ever seen.... just a couple of centimetres long... They are widely used in the Asian cuisine and give the food slightly fishy taste and add crispy bits...
  

8. Add about 3 tbs of fish sauce. 
Note: There's no use substituting fish sauce with the soy sauce, the taste and colour will be absolutely different.
9. Squeeze one garlic clove with the garlic squeezer and add it to the sauce.
10. Add some chilli to your taste. Usually Thai food is quite spicy.
11. Chop cilantro (or if you don't have it - parsley, but the flavour will suffer) and basil leaves really finely. Add them to the sauce and mix everything well.

12. Mix shredded papaya with green beans and tomatoes.


 
13. Season the salad with the sauce and keep aside for about 15-20 minutes before eating.  




14. The other typical Thai seasoning for this salad is peanuts crumbles. 
Note: If, like myself, you don't have a mortar at home, put the peanuts in a plastic bag and beat them with either the meat-tenderizer or just the knife's hand.  
Note: I personally prefer cashew nuts to peanuts ....


So, serve the salad and season it with generous amount of peanuts directly in the plate.  
Decorate with the lime slices and some cilantro leaves.


 







             ENJOY!!!

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