Som Tam Thai (ส้มตำไทย — Thai Green Papaya Salad with Dried Shrimp)

Som Tam Thai is Thailand's most iconic street salad — shredded green papaya pounded in a clay mortar with garlic, chillies, fish sauce, lime, and palm sugar, finished with dried shrimp and roasted peanuts. Originally from the Isaan region and now ubiquitous across Thailand, its layered interplay of sour, sweet, salty, and spicy is unlike anything else.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 400g (14 oz) green papaya, peeled and shredded (use a papaya shredder or mandoline)
• 2 cups (60g) long beans or green beans, cut into 4cm (1½ in) pieces
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2–4 fresh bird's eye chillies (adjust to heat preference)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp (20g) dried shrimp
• 2 tbsp (20g) roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
• 2 tbsp (30ml) fish sauce
• 2 tbsp (30ml) fresh lime juice
• 1½ tbsp (18g) palm sugar or light brown sugar

Instructions

1. In a large clay mortar, pound the garlic and bird's eye chillies together until roughly crushed — 5–8 hard pounds. You want texture, not a paste.
2. Add the long beans and pound lightly 3–4 times just to bruise them.
3. Add the dried shrimp and palm sugar, and pound again to break up the shrimp.
4. Add the fish sauce and lime juice. Stir with the pestle and a spoon.
5. Add shredded papaya in two batches, using the pestle to pound and bruise (not obliterate) while turning with a spoon to mix — about 10–15 pounds total.
6. Add cherry tomatoes and press gently to release their juice.
7. Taste and balance: adjust lime for sour, fish sauce for salt, palm sugar for sweet, and chilli for heat. The flavours should be bold and multilayered.
8. Serve immediately, topped with crushed roasted peanuts, alongside sticky rice or fresh vegetables.

Cook's Notes: A proper clay mortar and pestle produces the best result — it absorbs moisture and creates the characteristic bruised texture. If you lack a mortar, toss and firmly massage the ingredients in a bowl, though the texture will differ.