Thai Style Papaya Salad

Papaya salad is something that I can eat everyday. It's tasty, light and extremely healthy for you.This salad is called "som tum" in Thai. som means papaya in Thai and tum means beating ingredients together. It is also referred to as "papaya pok pok" by the many foreigners that visit Thailand and have come to love the sweet, spicy and sour flavors of somtum.

I live in Thailand and am fortunate to find papaya salad being sold on every street corner and most Thai restaurants. You can find local vendors preparing and selling the papaya salad just about everywhere here in Thailand. I believe it might just be the most consumed food here.

This salad originates from north-eastern Thailand but can be found in every province of the country. As workers from the north travel to other places to find work they take their special papaya salad recipes with them.

The som tum is a perfect salad for the summer because it is light and easy on the stomach. Lots of people eat only the papaya salad when they are on a diet.

I am an avid cook and have a very simple and tasty recipe for som tum to share with you. I hope you will enjoy the recipe and give it a try soon and let me know what you think of this dish.

Listed here are the ingredients you will need to make my simple green papaya salad. These ingredients are easy to get at any Thai or Aisan grocery stores near you.

• shredded green papaya. The amount really depends on how much you want to make and serve. One cup full is generally good for 1 serving. You have to buy a fresh green papaya and shred it into thin long slices.
• tomatoes. I usually use 5-6 cherry tomatoes.
• lime. 2 tablespoons or 3/4 of a lime.
• palm sugar. 2 tablespoons.
• garlic. 2 cloves.
• green beans. a handful. 4-5 strings. cut them into short pieces.
• fish sauce. 2 tablespoons.
• chilli peppers. how spicy do you like it? I generally go for just 1 chilli pepper but I have friends who use up to 6 chilli peppers in their som tum.
• peanuts. 2 tablespoons of toasted peanuts (optional). I like my som tum with some peanuts and dried shrimps.
• dried shrimps. 2 tablspoons of dried shrimps. (optional).

You will need a mortar and pestle to make this dish. I prefer the granite version because it is stronger and more traditional.You will also need a cheesegrater to help you shred the papaya into long slim pieces.

So this is how we will prepare the green papaya salad:

• put your garlic into the mortar and smash it.
• slice the cherry tomatoes in halves and smash it with the garlic
• next add the green beans t the mix. You should be smashing these items together just a bit to let the juices out and flatten the beans.
• add your shilli to th mix and smash some more - just enough to get its spices out,
• next add the remaining ingredients together with the already smashed ingredients into the mortar.
• next mix and smash all the ingredients together till they are all mixed well. You will need a fork or splatula to mix the ingredients together while gently smashing them.

That's it. See how simple it was? Take your salad and serve it in a big bowl with all the juices with it. The salad is generally served with some more green beans andThai sticky rice on the side.

Bon Apetit!

If you would like to make this a vegetarian dish then you should avoid the dried shrimps and substitute thefish sauce with soy sauce instead.

Dried shrimps and peanuts can also be omitted from the salad depending how you like the taste. I personally like it with both.

You may also use regular sugar instead of brown sugar.

The som tum salad can be served with any other Thai food. Generally people have the green papaya salad with sticky rice, grilled chiken or pork and spicy pork salad.