Locals and seasoned travellers alike know what the grinding sound made by a mortar and pestle means: someone is making Som Tam! This spicy Thai salad, which is made usually with papaya and a variety of vegetables also contains garlic, Thai chillies, lime juice, brown sugar, peanuts, dry shrimps and fish sauce.
The reason why this salad is so spicy is because of the handful of chopped hot bird’s eye chillies Chef adds in. When ordering, just request your Som Tam to be not spicy at all.
The name of Som Tam doesn’t come from the papaya that is used in this salad. It comes from the technique, where sour salads are pounded together in a large mortar and pestle.
HOW TO?
If you wish to make your own Som Tam salad when back home, you will need a mortar, plus the following ingredients:
Using a mortar and pestle, combine the chillies and garlic cloves. Pound the ingredients while you add the anchovy sauce, dried shrimp and lime juice. Continue pounding the sauce with the pestle. The final som tam sauce ingredient is the coconut sugar. The sauce is finished when the coconut sugar is fully dissolved.
Bon appetit!
April 2023.
