Som Tam Green Papaya Salad 🥗🌶️

Description

Crisp Thai som tam with shredded green papaya, lime, fish sauce, and a clean chili kick, finished with peanuts for that bright sweet sour salty crunch that tastes instantly premium. 🥜

Hook ✨

If you want the Thai salad that dominates searches and never feels boring, som tam is pure crunch and electric flavor, fast, fresh, and restaurant worthy in one bowl. ✨

Ingredients

• Salad
• 🥭 450 g green papaya, peeled and shredded (4 cups / 1 lb)
• 🥕 80 g carrot, shredded (1 cup / 2.8 oz)
• 🍅 200 g cherry tomatoes, halved (1½ cups / 7 oz)
• 🫘 120 g long beans, cut 3 cm (1½ cups / 4.2 oz)
• 🧄 12 g garlic, peeled (4 cloves / 0.4 oz)
• 🌶️ 2–4 Thai chilies, to taste (2–4)
• 🥜 40 g roasted peanuts, crushed (⅓ cup / 1.4 oz)
• Dressing
• 🍋 60 ml lime juice (¼ cup / 2 fl oz)
• 🥣 45 ml fish sauce (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 🍯 30 ml palm sugar syrup, or brown sugar syrup (2 tbsp / 1 fl oz)
• 🦐 10 g dried shrimp, optional (2 tbsp / 0.35 oz)
• Serve
• 🥬 150 g cabbage leaves, optional (3 cups / 5.3 oz)
• 🍚 450 g cooked sticky rice, optional (3 cups / 1 lb)

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Make the base
2. In a mortar, pound garlic and chilies 15–20 sec until lightly crushed and aromatic, not fully paste. 🧄
3. 2️⃣ Melt the sweetness
4. Add palm sugar syrup, fish sauce, and lime juice, stir 10 sec until glossy and balanced. 🍋
5. 3️⃣ Wake the vegetables
6. Add long beans and tomatoes, gently bruise 10–15 sec so they release juices into the dressing. 🍅
7. 4️⃣ Add papaya
8. Add shredded green papaya and carrot, toss and lightly pound 20–30 sec so the dressing coats every strand. 🥭
9. 5️⃣ Add crunch
10. Fold in crushed peanuts and optional dried shrimp, toss 10 sec to finish. 🥜
11. 6️⃣ Taste and adjust
12. Taste, then adjust with more lime for brightness, more fish sauce for depth, or more syrup for roundness. 🥣
13. 7️⃣ Plate clean
14. Plate immediately, spoon a little extra dressing over the top, add cabbage on the side if using. 🥗
15. 8️⃣ Serve
16. Serve right away while it is crisp, optional with sticky rice for the full Thai experience. 🍚

Total Time

⏱️ Prep: 15 min
🔥 Cook/Bake: 0 min
🛋️ Rest: 0 min
⏰ Total: 15 min

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