SOM TAM

Every time I go to Bangkok, I make sure to have green papaya salad. Locally known as som tam, the dish combines sour (lime), salty (fish sauce), spicy (chilies) and sweet (palm sugar) taste which gives it a unique and balance savory flavor.  

The dish is also a delicacy to Thai neighboring countries, in Laos they call it tam mak hoong and bok l'hong in Cambodia. This is made by shredding unripe papaya then mixed and pounded in a mortar.

Sharing my version of Thai Papaya Salad for this month's  Kulinarya Cooking Club  Challenge : Pambaha ng Buhay hosted by Isabel and Kai.

Ingredients

1 c Shredded Green Papaya

¼ c Shredded carrots

6 Cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)

2 tblspn Dried Shrimps

3 tblspn Roasted Peanuts

2 pcs Bird’s eye chillies

4-5 cloves Garlic

2 tbspn Brown Sugar

2 tblspn Fish Sauce

1 ½ tblspn Lime or Lemon Juice

1 tblspn Tamarind Paste

Procedure

Pound garlic, dried shrimps, chillies and peanuts in mortar

Add cherry tomatoes, pound few times until juice comes out of the tomato

Season with lime juice, palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind paste

Add papaya and carrots mix well

Food Notes :

1. Thai Papaya Salad is listed number 46 on CNN GO's 2011 World's 50 most delicious foods

2. In the streets of Bangkok, Som Tam is prepared according to customer's taste