: Som Tum Recipe The Real Thing
I tried this as a child and did not like it. I came back to Thailand at twelve — to my uncle's farm in Kamphaeng Phet, the table of the village chief — and Som Tum arrived and something shifted. Six years in America between the first taste and the second. Something in me had changed, or something in the dish had finally made sense. I have not stopped eating it since. This is that som tum. Four chilies for me. Start at two and find your own.
Ingredients
- Green papaya: 2 cups peeled, seeded, and shredded
- Cherry tomatoes: 1 cup halved
- Carrots: 1/4 cup shredded (optional for extra color and crunch)
- Long beans or green beans: 1/2 cup, cut into 1-inch pieces
- Roasted peanuts: 1/3 cup coarsely crushed
- Dried shrimp: 2 tablespoons soaked in warm water for 10 minutes and drained
- Garlic: 2 cloves minced
- Fresh Thai chili peppers: 1-3 depending on your spice tolerance, finely sliced
- Lime juice: 1/4 cup
- Fish sauce: 3 tablespoons
- Palm sugar or brown sugar: 1 tablespoon, finely crushed or grated
- Tamarind paste: 1 tablespoon optional for added tanginess
Instructions
Prepare the papaya and vegetables:
- Use a julienne peeler or a large grater to shred the green papaya and carrots into thin strips.
- Rinse the shredded papaya in cold water, drain, and squeeze out excess moisture.
Make the dressing:
- In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, and tamarind paste (if using). Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Pound the chili and garlic:
- In a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and Thai chilies to a coarse paste. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, mince them together finely.
Combine the salad:
- In a large mixing bowl, add the shredded papaya, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and long beans.
- Add the chili and garlic paste to the bowl.
Dress and mix the salad:
- Pour the dressing over the vegetables in the bowl.
- Use a spoon and a pestle or your hands to lightly bruise the vegetables with the dressing to absorb the flavors. This also helps to soften the beans and papaya.
Add the final touches:
- Stir in the dried shrimp and half of the roasted peanuts.
Serve:
- Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining roasted peanuts.
- Serve immediately for the best texture and flavor.
Notes
The papaya must be green and unripe. Not slightly ripe. Not starting to turn orange inside. Firm, pale, almost white flesh with no sweetness at all. Ripe papaya turns soft the moment the dressing touches it and the whole texture collapses. The shredder gives you long even strands that hold up to the mortar and the dressing. Keep the strands long.
The chili count is yours to decide. Two is where most people start. Four is where I live. The heat in som tum is not background heat — it is present and it builds through the bowl. Add one chili at a time, taste after each addition, and stop when you find your level. The rest of the dish does not change. Only the heat does.
Build the dressing in the mortar before the papaya goes in. Fish sauce, lime, palm sugar — taste it on its own and get the balance right before anything else joins it. Sour first. Salt second. Faint sweetness at the end. The papaya and tomatoes will dilute it slightly once they go in, so the dressing alone should taste slightly more intense than you want the finished dish to be.
Som tum does not keep. Make it immediately before eating. The papaya softens within thirty minutes of the dressing touching it and the dish loses its crunch and its brightness. This is not a make-ahead dish. It is a make-now dish. Set the table first. Then make the som tum.
Nutrition
Serving: 8ozCalories: 120kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 4gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 480mgFiber: 3gSugar: 12g
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