Thai Street Food 1. Som Tam Thai

Som Tam Thai 

 Som Tam Thai (ส้มตำไทย) or Green Papaya Salad is my favourite street food dish in Thailand. It originates in Laos/Issan, but is now populปar throughout Thailand. This version does not add fermented crab, Som Tam Bpuu (ส้มตำปู), or fermented fish paste, Som Tam Pla Laa (ส้มตำปลาร้า) which is common in Issan. The former can contain rotten pickled crab and the latter smells woefully. In my view stay away from them. When not yet ripe, papaya has a slightly tangy flavor. The texture is crisp and firm, sometimes to the point of crunchiness. It is this that allows the fruit to withstand being beaten in the mortar. In Thailand, it is customary that a customer ask the vendor to make the dish suited to his or her tastes. I suggest you do this if you do not like it too spicy, simply say "mai pet mak" (not too spicy). Traditionally the local variety of Som Tum on the streets of Bangkok is very hot due to the addition of a fistfull of chopped hot Thai Chilis however with its rising popularity among tourists, it is often served now not as hot. Som Tum is great served with sticky rice or khao niao (ข้าวเหนีย) and grilled chicken or gai yang (ไก่ย่าง) but is good on its own or with anything. P 


INGREDIENTS
 2 whole garlic cloves 
2-10 small thai chilies to taste 
1 tablespoon palm sugar 
1 tablespoon fish sauce 
1 long bean, broken into 7cm pieces 
1 tomato cut in wedges 2 teaspoons lime juice 
1 cup shredded green papaya 
3 tablespoons dry roasted peanuts 
1 tablespoon dried shrimp 


DIRECTIONS
First prepare the papaya by peeling the dark green skin. Then, hold the papaya in your hand, and hit it lengthwise with a large sharp knife to create 1/2″ or so deep cuts in the fruit. Do this repaetedly until you have created a large number of cuts.Then, cut the papaya lengthwise to produce long strips. You can also buy tools to do this or even use a cheese grater (the big holes). Thais use the knife method though. Place the whole garlic cloves and chilies in a mortar. The Thais use a wooden mortar and pestle in conjunction with a long spoon for SomTam. Pound with the pestle a few times to mash, then add the long beans. Pound a few more times, and add some of the papaya. and pound some more. Add the palm sugar, fish sauce or salt and pound more. Make sure everything is well mixed. Add the tomato and continue to pound but not as hard. Add the lime juice, dried shrimp and the rest of the papaya. Pound about 10-15 times while mixing with the spoon. You want to evenly coat the papaya with the juices while pounding the flavor into the papaya without overdoing it. You want to gently bruise the fruit, not smash it into bits or make it soggy.  The papaya should be crunchy. Add the peanuts, mix and serve. paya should be crunchy. Add the peanuts, mix and serve.