Asia After Dark October 2017 | Page 37

Among the tom yam goong , pad Thai , green , and yellow and red curries , som tam ( papaya salad ) sits rightup there on the listoftop Thaiculinary treasures .
The dish , originally from the northeast , has become ubiquitous in Thairestaurants from London to Sydney and is today found in pretty much any Bangkok Thairestaurant ( there ' s even a song dedicated to it ). Fragrant , spicy and packing a realkick , som tam is eaten any time ofthe day .
Ingredients
Sm allgreen raw papaya , shredded 4 chopped long beans 6 cloves garlic ( or 1 / 4 pod ) 8 cherry tom atoes cut into quarters 6 red or green chilly 2 Tbsp palm sugar ( or 1 Tbsp regular sugar ) 3 Tbsp lim e juice 2 Tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce 3 Tbsp ground roasted peanuts Fresh lettuce , green beans , lim e wedges and chilly for garnish
How to Make Som Tam ( Papaya Salad ) Peeland seed papaya and shred it . Put in a bowl . Crush garlic with a pestle , then add long beans and tom atoes and pound a few tim es to release juices . Add the chillies and crush lightly to release the heat . In a separate cup dissolve the sugar in the lim e juice and fish sauce . Mix allingredients together now and toss to m ix . Serve in a shallow bowland top with garnish . Rem em ber : Do not blend but use m ortar and pestle for the salad . Do not add salt , the fish sauce or soy sauce has enough salt . Taste once m ixed and add any ingredient to taste .. this one is supposed to be deadly spicy .