May

5

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)

May 5, 2007 |

and another Quiz.

This dish, from Laos and northeastern Thailand, is staple street food, served with meats, chicken, and rice.
As explained in this recipe:

There are many ways to make green papaya salads, with varying degrees of hotness, sourness and sweetness. The hottest salads are probably made in northeastern Thailand and Laos where they are eaten with barbecued chicken and sticky rice as a staple food of the populace. There, the salads are made by bruising julienned green papaya with garlic and very hot bird peppers in a large clay mortar with a wooden pestle, then seasoning with lime juice, fish sauce and other flavorings.

quizsalad.jpg

The salad usually has green papaya, dried shrimp, peanuts and carrots.

Optional additions: tomatoes, green beans.

The ingredients are added one by one and crushed lightly together with a mortar and pestle, to bring out the flavours. Green papaya has a neutral taste and crunchy texture. It acts as the perfect vehicle for the blend of unique flavours.

See how it is done in this video.

The dressing is what makes this dish. In Laotian, som means ‘sour‘, tam means pounded.

Som Tam (also called Som Dtam or Som Dtum) combines the four main tastes of Laotian/Thai cuisine.

Sour - from lime juice and/or tamarind

Hot - from the Thai bird chilies

Sweet - from palm or regular jaggery

Salty - from the fish sauce and/or anchovy paste

Our vegan version uses soy sauce. It is a great dipping sauce with spring rolls, or even fruit, and can be adjusted to suit individual tastes. Â

For 4-5 cups of salad:

1 tsp heaped chopped green chillies
1 tsp heaped chopped garlic
1 tbsp powdered palm or regular jaggery
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

QUIZ #4

quizzical.jpg

This one’s really easy. What is the dominant flavour in this drink?

Right-clicking for the file name will not yield a clue. :twisted:

Answer next Sunday.

ANSWER HERE.

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19 Comments so far

  1. Spring greens are here … » jugalbandi on May 5, 2007 9:57 pm

    […] Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) […]

  2. Anita on May 5, 2007 10:48 pm

    And I got it right!

    But there were no prizes :-(

  3. Coffee on May 5, 2007 10:54 pm

    R u training to be a quiz master???? ;)

    I think its pumpkin……. or tomato??? May be carrot …..

  4. roopa on May 5, 2007 11:55 pm

    i think it is carrot or water melon…….

  5. musical on May 6, 2007 12:28 am

    Ah! so that was Papaya! Hmm, the juice has orange or tomatoes :) Oh, may be mangoes! Yes, mangoes it is :-D

    And the Som-tam dip is lip-smacking good!

  6. Rachna on May 6, 2007 3:09 am

    Som Tam is new to me, am gonna give it a shot.

    Um, isnt that chai in those two cups? I’m gonna say the dominant flavour is tea :-)

  7. sra on May 6, 2007 5:37 am

    looks like palm jaggery. or tamarind juice?

  8. Mathy Kandasamy on May 6, 2007 7:38 am

    //This one’s really easy. What is the dominant flavour in this drink?//

    Papaya! ;)

    -Mathy

  9. Mamatha on May 6, 2007 8:12 am

    Tea?

  10. pelicano on May 6, 2007 9:21 am

    Hey JB-

    Nice post here! The green papaya, carrot, peanut, dried shrimp combo is the more south Thai version(it can be made with shredded/ julienned green mangoes or separated pomelo strands too), much less bold and breath-affecting than the Issarn(NE Thai)/ Lao version, which uses lots of garlic and chiles,pieces of crab with stock, crab paste, thick fish sauce, tamarind, sliced limes, peanuts and tomatoes… the south Thai one is considered more delicate and refined by comparison; I like both! ;-) Jai- you’d never get past the fishiness of that “country-style” one! :-D

    I guess that is Thai iced coffee in that photo….Oliang.

    thanks for that info, pel. - b.

  11. pelicano on May 6, 2007 9:46 am

    Hey…forgot to mention…..you did excellent research for this dish- it is indeed often eaten with grilled chicken- gai yang (or sometimes with sausages), with sticky rice- khao nyao- a must!

  12. Sig on May 6, 2007 1:33 pm

    I’m guessing papaya… but whatever it is, love those cups..way too adorable…

  13. indosungod on May 6, 2007 3:07 pm

    Papaya Salad looks good, the dipping way sounds yum, what might be a good substitution for Papaya(not my favorite fruit) or without the Papaya might as well not try to make it??

    any shredded veggie or fruit will go well with this dip. try jicama, green mango, anything.

  14. Nupur on May 6, 2007 3:54 pm

    Dominant flavor: caramel? It looks thick and gooey, like caramel.

  15. Manisha on May 6, 2007 4:18 pm

    See! I told you it was jicama all along!

    yeah. it’s ‘virtual jicama’. - b.

  16. laos » Blog Archive » Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) on May 6, 2007 6:30 pm

    […] …Read More […]

  17. Anita on May 6, 2007 11:36 pm

    Tea?? :lol:

  18. Trupti on May 8, 2007 9:18 am

    Dominant Flavor in the drink……?? - Jaggery?? Tamarind?

    cool mugs.

  19. Chakka (Jackfruit) Pradhaman » jugalbandi on May 12, 2007 6:59 pm

    […] Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) […]

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