Salad

Som Tam (Thailand)

Name: Som Tam (Thailand)
Total time: 20 min
Yield: serves 4
Ingredients: 1 Green papaya; 2 cloves Garlic; 1 Chili pepper; 2 tbsp Fish sauce; 1 Lime; 1 tbsp Sugar; 1 Tomato; 30 g Peanuts

Preparation time: 20 min
Servings: serves 4

Ingredients

serves 4

Green papaya — to buy1
Garlic — to buy2 cloves
Chili pepper — to buy1
Fish sauce — to buy2 tbsp
Lime — to buy1
Sugar — to buy1 tbsp
Tomato — to buy1
Peanuts — to buy30 g

Preparation

Peel the still-firm green papaya and shred it into thin strands (a julienne grater or mandoline works well if you don't have a papaya shredder).
Pound the garlic and chili together in a mortar (or crush them with the flat of a knife), until you get a rough paste: pounding really releases the aromas, unlike simply mincing.
Add the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar straight into the mortar, mix well to dissolve the sugar: taste it, som tam should be lively — tangy, salty and a little sweet, with the heat coming after.
Add the shredded papaya and tomato cut into wedges, then lightly pound or mix by hand to coat every strand without fully crushing it.
Taste and rebalance: more lime juice if it needs more zing, more sugar if it's too sour.
Sprinkle with crushed peanuts just before serving, nice and chilled.