My favourite food.

Som Tam aka papaya salad

It's afternoon and I am my office in a lovely Fisherman's Village. I am having a free minute, so what shall I do? It's a lunch time and I think I am gonna go and get some Som Tam from a lovely Thai lady across the street...
Som Tam is a spicy salad made from shredded unripened papaya. It combines the four main tastes of Thai Cousine: sour lime, hot chili, salty fish sauce, and sweetness added by palm sugar. Yummy!! My favourite, and it's only 30 Baht...
I think I may give you a recipe to try and DIY .


This is how it goes:
One small coarsely shredded green papaya ( around 1.5 cups)
7 to 8 cherry tomatoes, or one medium, firm tomato, quartered
a handful of long beans (around 1/4th cup), snapped into manageable bits
1 to 2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh green/red chilli
Lime juice, salt, sugar to taste ( I used the juice of one lime & 1 tsp sugar)
a few splashes of light soy sauce (optional)
1/4th cup roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed or chopped

Pound the garlic and chili with a little salt in a mortar and pestle, if you have one. Smash the garlic and chili and finely chop them. Toss in the long beans and pound a bit more, or smash those too. The tomatoes also need to be pounded (only lightly) to extract the juice. You could also, slice them and mix. Add the shredded papaya and the seasonings, sprinkle the peanuts and you're good to go. It does taste a lot better than it may look!