Authentic Som Tam – Thai Green Papaya Salad Recipe (Isaarn-Soul Food)

Being a Thai and growing up in the northeastern parts of Thailand (Isaarn, as it is called), one dish that is mandatory to be served is som tam, also known as, spicy green papaya salad. Very rarely does a dish delights in the perfect blend of spicy, sour, sweet and saltiness. It’s a dish that you must try when visiting Thailand.

Eating this reminds me of my family, namely, my second sister – who is my family’s som tam chef, and my third sister owns a famous Somtam stall in Betong (do drop by if you’re in the area!)

Today, I will share with you a simple way of making Isaarn’s comfort food from your own very kitchen. Enjoy! 🙂 

First, prepare the ingredients.

Next, peel the papaya with a food peeler. I will teach you how Isaarn people shred papaya for som tam.

Hold the papaya with your non-dominant hand firmly. Place a large plate under the papaya. Using a sharp knife in your dominant hand, chop the papaya firmly and carefully. Use your non-dominant hand to rotate the papaya.

Repeat until the surface of the papaya has been evenly chopped.

When the papaya has been fully chopped, guide the knife with the forefinger, and gently slice the papaya strands. We only want the hard parts of the papaya. If you notice that the papaya is half-reddish like mine, fret not! If the red flesh of the papaya is as firm as the pale flesh, that’s good as it will add some natural sweetness to the dish. If the flesh has softened, its best to leave it out, otherwise the som tam will clump together.

The best papayas to use are young papayas that are almost ripe to get their natural sweetness and crunchy texture.

Note: a food grater can be used as well, however, the shredded papaya’s thickness may be a little too fragile, causing clumps which does not look appetizing.

Peel the skin off the garlic and remove the chilli stalks (I don’t remove chilli stalks as the taste is neither enhanced or detracted). Pound both the garlic and chilli together until they break apart. Please be careful not to use too much force while pounding as the contents can splash out of the mortar. In my experience, food splashes usually hit the face and can be dangerous if it enters the eyes.

Add paste sugar and shrimp paste. Continue to pound until a thick paste is formed, with all the ingredients well incorporated. While doing so, the paste will move up to the walls of the mortar – when this happens, use the pestle to push down the paste to the center of the mortar. Once the paste becomes a thick liquid, grind the paste as pounding becomes more difficult to execute without creating dangerous splashes.

Add the tamarind juice and fish sauce. Gently mix the tamarind juice with the paste until it is well incorporated with the pestle and a large spoon. Use the spoon to move the sauce, then grind the sauce with the pestle. Take your time to practice this technique, and one day, you can do it like the Thais. 🙂

Add lime juice and cut rough pieces of tomato into the pestle. Gently mash the tomato with the sauce – but not too much, or the tomatoes will be smashed.

Gently mash tomatoes as they are fragile.

Taste the sauce. The ingredients listed already includes my adjustments. However, if the taste needs more:

1. Sweetness: add 1 tsp of white sugar, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.
2. Sourness/tanginess: add half a lime of lime juice, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.
3. Saltiness: add 1 tsp of fish sauce, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.
4. Spiciness: pound more chillis in another pestle and mortar, add to the mixture, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.

Add the shredded papaya. Using the same spoon-pestle coordination motion, mix the papaya well until all the sauce has coated it.

Taste the som tam and adjust if needed. Serve immediately.

Som tam needs to be in the fridge for consumption for 3-4 hours later. It must be consumed within a day. For advance preparation, make and keep both the sauce and shredded papaya in the fridge, separately. Assemble just before consumption.

Isaarn people often use the same recipe with different hard vegetables that can be consumed raw, such as long beans, cucumber, even corn to make different types of salad. I often make it with long beans and cucumber. It is the perfect side to go with fried/grilled meats and glutinous rice as it is traditionally eaten in Thailand.

I hope you have enjoyed this recipe!

PS. Apart from papaya, Thais also have other types of salads. How about a mango salad, or cucumber salad? 😉

Som Tam – Thai Green Papaya Salad

Somjit Najaireeb

Famous spicy, sour, salty and sweet salad from Thailand. Delicious when eaten with fresh leafy greens, fried meats and glutinous rice!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 10 mins

Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Thai

Servings 4

Calories 68 kcal

Equipment

• Pestle and Mortar
• Food Shredder
• Large Spoon
• Food Processor
• Fruit Peeler

Ingredients

• 3 cups green papaya, shredded
• mix of fresh red and green bird's eye chilli, 2: mildly spicy. 4: spicy. 6>: hell
• 1 clove garlic, skin removed
• 1.5 tbsp paste sugar, nam tal pip (cane sugar mixed with coconut sugar)
• 1.5 tsp shrimp paste, belacan (mild). The amount should be reduced for rich, intense shrimp paste.
• 1 tbsp tamarind water, concentrated, 1 tsp of tamarind pulp + 1 tsp of hot water
• 2 tbsp fish sauce, Tiparos brand, adjust accordingly to taste
• 1.5 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 2 tomatoes, medium sized, optional

Instructions

 

• Using a peeler, remove the papaya skin. Shred the papaya with a food grater. Set aside.

Sauce

• In the pestle & mortar, pound both red chillies, green chillies, and garlic, just enough to break them.
• Add half of the paste sugar and half of the shrimp paste into the mortar. Pound until they are well-combined.
• Add the concentrated tamarind juice and fish sauce. Slowly stir with a spoon and gently mash the mixture with the pestle until the tamarind juice and fish sauce are well-combined.
• Cut the lime and squeeze the juice into the mortar. (Optional) add the juiced lime pulp & peel into the mortar.
• Cut the tomato to slightly larger than bite-size and add them into the mortar.
• Once again, slowly stir with a spoon and gently mash the mixture with the pestle until the ingredients have been fully coated with the mixture.
• Taste the mixture. Adjust the taste as desired.

Salad Assembly

• Add the shredded papaya. Stir lightly and pound gently to coat the papaya with the mixture.
• Taste the papaya salad. Adjust the taste as desired.

Video

Notes

1. A medium/large pestle and mortar is recommended for this recipe as the shredded papaya needs to be pounded, so the green papaya’s flavour is enhanced. Alternatively, mixing the salads in large bowls in possible as well, however, the taste will not be as rich and flavourful.
2. A food grater can be used to shred the papaya, however, this encourages the papaya to clump together. I used the traditional way of shredding a papaya with a kitchen knife, which allows me to produce slightly thicker and firmer papaya strips.
3. Keep the lime at room temperature, and roll them with the ball of your palm before cutting and squeezing the juices to get maximum juice.
4. Once shredded, it’s best to mix the papaya with a handful of clean, crushed ice, so that the papaya texture is moist and crunchy. The ice will melt by the assembly time, so be sure to drain the water before using the papaya. Don’t worry if there are small amounts of ice in the salad. This enhances the texture further with ice and fire in the som tam 😀
5. Ideally use green/young papaya. Papayas with yellowish/reddish firm center are a bonus as those parts adds natural sweetness and crunchy texture to the dish. However, the flesh must be firm so the som tam is crunchy otherwise, the som tam will clump together.
6. Isaarn people also use vegetables that is crunchy, hard and can be eaten raw, such as long beans, cucumbers, and corn for their som tam. Do note that the preparation methods varies with different vegetables.
7. How to adjust the taste if you need extra:
   1. Sweetness: add 1 tsp of some white sugar, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.
   2. Sourness/tanginess: add half a lime of lime juice, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.
   3. Saltiness: add 1 tsp of fish sauce, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.
   4. Spiciness: pound more chillis in another pestle and mortar, add to the mixture, stir and pound gently until well-combined, and taste again.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 68kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 3gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 784mgPotassium: 363mgFiber: 3gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 1510IUVitamin C: 74mgCalcium: 39mgIron: 1mg

Keyword easy salads, green papaya, sour, spicy, thai fish sauce

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