Som Tam is a vibrant Thai salad made with shredded green papaya, tossed in a tangy, spicy, and slightly sweet dressing of tamarind, lemon juice, soy sauce, palm sugar, and chilies. Traditionally, the dressing ingredients - garlic, roasted peanuts, tomatoes, and seasonings are pounded using a mortar and pestle, giving the salad its signature balance of textures and flavors.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: Not specified
  • Total time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: Thai

Ingredients

  • ½ teaspoon tamarind (- dried)
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2.5 cups or (400 grams) unripe papaya (- shredded)
  • ½ teaspoon garlic (- chopped)
  • 3 to 4 bird's eye chillies (- can add less or more as required)
  • 1 tomato (- small sized or 2 to 3 cherry tomatoes)
  • 2 to 3 long beans (or green beans, optional)
  • 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce (- naturally brewed or fermented)
  • 2 tablespoons palm sugar (or as required)
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or as required)
  • sea salt (as per taste)
  • 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts (- chopped or crushed peanuts)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons cilantro (- optional)

Method

Making tamarind water

  1. For tamarind water, soak the dried tamarind in the hot water for 15 to 20 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind and add the pulp to the water. Set aside.

Grating green papaya

  1. Rinse, pat dry and peel the unripe green papaya. Halve it vertically. Remove any of the tiny white seeds and pith. Grate or shred using a food processor or a box grater.

Making salad dressing

  1. In a mortar, take the birds eye chillies and garlic cloves. Using a pestle and mortar, mash the bird's eye chilies and garlic together. If using long beans, then add 2 to 3 beans (chopped) at this step.
  2. Add the prepared tamarind water, palm sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice and sea salt as needed to the mortar. Mash and mix everything to a loose paste.
  3. Add chopped tomato or halved cherry tomatoes. Mash the tomatoes a bit, but not too much.

Making papaya salad

  1. Pour dressing mixture in the bowl containing the shredded papaya. Mix very well and mash a bit to soften the unripe papaya. Check the taste and add more salt, palm sugar, lemon juice, crushed bird's eye chillies or tamarind pulp if needed.

Serving suggestions

  1. Serve garnished with chopped roasted peanuts and cilantro.
  2. Som tam tastes awesome as it is. But you can choose to serve it as a side or as a starter with a Thai main course.
  3. The papaya salad flavors pair well with pan fried tofu, fried rice, stir fried noodles, grilled or sautéed mushrooms, tofu steaks, or fresh, blanched, sautéed or roasted vegetables like carrots, potatoes, brussels sprouts, corn on the cobs, cabbage, green beans, cauliflower, bell pepper or lettuce.

Storage

  1. The salad will keep in the refrigerator for up to one day.
  2. You can eat it cold or let it come to room temperature before serving.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.