Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam)
This Thai green papaya salad is crunchy, spicy, tangy, and totally refreshing—basically summer in a bowl. Made with shredded unripe papaya, lime juice, fish sauce, chilies, and a mix of veggies, peanuts, and dried shrimp, it's the kind of dish that hits every flavor note: salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. Perfect as a side or light meal, especially with some sticky rice on the side.
Ingredients
- ½ unripe green papaya
- ¼ carrot
- 4 long beans cut into 1.5-inch (~4 cm) pieces
- 4 cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 tbsp dried shrimp
- 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
- 4 garlic cloves
- 5 Thai bird’s eye chilies
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- juice of 2 limes
Instructions
- Peel and shred the green papaya using a julienne peeler or knife.
- Julienne the carrot.
- Cut the long beans into 1.5-inch (4 cm) pieces and halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Soak the dried shrimp in hot water, then rinse 4–5 times until clean and softened.
- Peel the garlic cloves and prepare the chilies.
- In a mortar and pestle, roughly pound the garlic and chilies until roughly crushed.
- Add palm sugar, lime juice, and fish sauce to the mortar. Mix well.
- Add the shredded papaya, carrot, long beans, cherry tomatoes, sliced lime, softened dried shrimp, and roasted peanuts.
- Lightly pound and toss everything together until the vegetables are slightly bruised and well coated in the dressing.
- Transfer to a plate and serve immediately as a refreshing side dish or with sticky rice.
Notes
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