Thai · Lunch or dinner

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)

Green papaya, lime, chile, fish sauce and peanut.

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Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad), plated, photographed from above.
Prep
25 min
Cook
0 min
Makes
4 servings
Skill
Comfortable
Heat
Medium, adjustable
Vegetarian Contains peanuts Contains shellfish Contains fish
Maui says

Pound the garlic and chile first to bruise them, then toss everything else in - pounding is half the technique; tossing is the other half. A regular salad bowl works if you don't have a mortar; use a wooden spoon to bruise the ingredients before tossing.

Ingredients

Everything below makes 4 servings.

  • 4 cupsgreen (unripe) papayapeeled and shredded into thin strips (julienne peeler or box grater)
  • 1 mediumcarrotpeeled and shredded
  • 6long beans (or green beans)cut into 2-inch lengths
  • 8cherry tomatoeshalved
  • 4garlic clovespeeled
  • 3thai bird chiles
  • 1½ tbsppalm sugar
  • 2 tbspfish sauce
  • 3 tbspfresh lime juice
  • 2 tbspdried shrimp
  • ⅓ cuproasted unsalted peanutscoarsely chopped

In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.

Nutrition

Per serving, as written.

  • 170calories
  • 5gprotein
  • 26gcarbs
  • 6gfat

Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.

Instructions

Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.

Before you start
  1. Peel and shred green papaya into long thin strips (julienne peeler is fastest; box grater works). Soak in ice water 5 min for crunch; drain and spin dry.
  2. Shred carrot. Cut long beans into 2-inch pieces. Halve cherry tomatoes.
  3. Chop peanuts.
1

Pound the base

In a large mortar (or sturdy bowl), pound garlic and chiles 30 sec until paste-like. Add palm sugar; pound 15 sec until dissolved. Add dried shrimp; bruise 10 sec.

1 min · hands on
2

Build the dressing

Pour in fish sauce and lime juice. Add long beans and tomato; bruise gently (don't pulverize - you want bean snap and tomato shape).

1 min · hands on
3

Toss the papaya

Add shredded papaya and carrot. Toss with the pestle in one hand and a spoon in the other - alternate pounding lightly and lifting from the bottom so dressing coats every strand. About 1 minute.

1 min · hands on
4

Plate

Pile into shallow bowls. Top with chopped peanuts. Serve immediately - som tam wilts within 30 min.

1 min · hands on

Make it yours

Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.

Swap Grilled shrimp on top

Marinate and grill 12 large shrimp in step 0; top salad. Adds about 15 minutes.

Swap Grilled chicken on top

Grill 1 lb chicken thighs separately; slice and top. Adds about 20 minutes.

Instead of sticky rice Sticky rice

Soak and steam sticky rice separately. Adds about 40 minutes.

Vegan Soy sauce for fish sauce, for dried shrimp

Also add 1 tsp white miso for savory depth.

What keeps

Som tam is a 'pound and serve' dish. Once dressed, papaya releases water and the salad goes limp within 30 min.

Prep the components and only pound right before eating.

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