Thai Green Papaya Salad

One of my favorite dishes in Thai cuisine is green papaya salad commonly known as Som Tum. It’s a dish which is meant to refresh the palate, with its spicy and tangy flavours, and get our taste buds ready for the main course.

It is crucial that this papaya salad is made from green papaya as it has a crisp texture and a mild flavour making it the perfect ingredient to create the base of a salad as it absorbs the intense flavour you introduce to it. This salad is full of traditional Thai ingredients, such as tamarinds, chillies, garlic, limes, palm sugar and peanuts all which balance each other out to create the perfect salad.

This salad provides a perfect balance of flavors, which is evident in most Thai food which makes it one of my favourite cuisines.  This dish is slightly sweet from palm sugar, sour from fresh lime juice, salty from vegetarian fish sauce and has a fabulous kick of spice that mellows in the sweet shredded carrot and papaya.  And that’s not even the end of it – you also get the crunch of peanuts that makes every bite indescribably lovely.  Make this – you’ll be glad you did.

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Helpful Tips and Tricks to make Thai Green Papaya Salad:

• Thai chillies are quiet spicy, so 1 is usually good for most people. I love the spice so at times I use 2!!
• You’ll probably have a lot of dressing settling at the bottom of the mixing bowl, it goes really well with jasmine rice.
• You can also add other vegetables to this salad, like carrots, cucumber and spring onions.
• You can substitute cashew for peanuts. I always like to roast the peanuts at home as they are fresher and more flavourful than store bought.

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Thai Green Papaya Salad

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 4 voted )

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Ingredients

• 1 medium green papaya (roughly 4 cups)
• Small handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup long beans, cut in 2" pieces
• 50 grams roasted peanuts, crushed

For Dressing:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tsp tamarind juice
• 2 tbsp vegetarian fish sauce
• 1 tsp tamari sauce
• 1-2 Thai chillies, as per your usual spice level
• 1.5 tbsp palm sugar

method

1. Peel and then julienne the green papaya. Soak the strands in ice water for 10-15 minuted so that they become firmer. Drain and place the strands in a bowl lined with a paper bowl, so that the excess water is absorbed. 
2. Halve the cherry tomatoes and chop the green beans. 
3. In a pestle and mortar, pound your fresh chillies, then add the garlic and crush until there are no big chunks left. 
4. Once the garlic is crushed, add the lemon juice, palm sugar, vegetarian fish sauce, tamarind and tamarind juice. Pound the mixture until it's a wet paste. 
5. Add the beans and crush until they are a bit broken. 
6. In a big bowl add the shredded papaya and tomatoes and the dressing and toss until the salad is well mixed. Add the crushed peanuts and coriander. Mix well and serve cold.

Did You Make This Recipe?

If you did, take a picture and tag me on Instagram at @poetryofspices!