Recipes: Som Tam - Green Papaya Salad

Som Tam (aka Green Papaya Salad) is the most popular salad in Thailand. You will find it on every restaurant menu and in small food carts and stalls throughout the country. The papaya fruit, in its un-ripened form, takes on the qualities of a crisp and refreshing vegetable, similar to cucumber. It is the perfect lunch on a hot sunny day and goes marvellously with barbequed chicken. The recipe is surprisingly simple and easy to recreate at home.

Som Tam - Green Papaya Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

500g Fresh Green Papaya

4 Garlic Cloves

1 tsp Small Dried Shrimps

1-4 Small fresh red or green chilis (Depending how spicy you like it)

4 Snake Beans/Chinese Long Beans

1 Carrot, shredded

2 Tomatoes, sliced into thin wedges

2 tbsp Roasted peanuts

Dressing:

4 tbsp Fish sauce

2 tbsp Sugar

4 tbsp Fresh squeezed lime juice

Optional Accompaniments:

Cucumber slices

Cabbage leaves

Thai sticky rice

Method:

First prepare your papaya. Peel the skin off, cut the papaya in half and remove the seeds. You can then use a mandolin on a julienne setting, or a box grater to create long thin strands. This can also be done by hand. Set aside.

Use a mortar and pestle to grind the garlic into a paste. If you want to include the dried shrimps, and them to the paste and give them a bash. Add your chilis and pound again. Then add the long beans and give them a light smash. Now stir in your green papaya and carrot and pound it all together. Finally add your tomatoes and use the pestle to stir them in, breaking them up slightly.

Now mix together your fish sauce, lime juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Pour over the other ingredients and stir it all together. Taste for seasoning and serve with cucumber slices, cabbage leaves or sticky rice.

Recipes: Salmon Larb

After years of devouring Larb Moo and Gai (Minced pork and chicken salad) at various resaurants around Koh Samui, a friend of ours expanded her small Thai restaurant into a much bigger venue. With that expansion came a bigger menu, that included our now favorite dish: Salmon Larb! This recipe is our version of the one we love so much. Similar to a ceviche, the salmon is marinated in fish sauce and lime juice and seasoned with lots of fresh Thai herbs and served with wonton crisps or lettuce cups. It is simple to make and guaranteed to be a new and exciting appetizer in your home. 

Serves 2 as an appetizer

Ingredients:

1 fresh sockeye salmon filet, diced into medium chunks

1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1-2  thinly sliced shallots

1/2 stalk of thinly sliced lemon grass (only the white part)

2 kaffir lime leaves, stem removed and thinly sliced

1/2 cup of chopped mint

1/4 cup of pan toasted dry rice, crushed with a mortar and pestle

Optional: Wonton crisps or lettuce cups to serve. 

Method:

Toss the cubed salmon in the mixture of lime juice, fish sauce, salt, sugar and red pepper. Allow to marinate while slicing the garnishes. When the salmon flesh starts to change colour and become opaque, strain the liquid out and toss the salmon with it the shallots, lemongrass, kaffir lime and mint leaves. Sprinkle the salmon with the toasted rice powder and serve with wonton crisps or lettuce cups.

Optional: If ceviche isn't your thing, you can also pan fry the marinated salmon before mixing with the herbs. 

To try the original Salmon Larb dish during your stay in Koh Samui, visit Pui Relax Restaurant and Bar in Choengmon.