In college, I spent a lot of time at the home of my very first roommate who ended up becoming a close friend too. Her mother is from Thailand and I had the chance to eat all sorts of delicious homemade Thai food, including something called Som Tam which is a popular Thai salad made with finely julienned raw papaya, thai green chilies, and a few other things. I immediately fell in love with it! A few years ago, my husband and I went to visit my friend and her own family came to visit as well. So I had the opportunity to eat homemade Som Tam again, and this time I actually paid attention to how her mother made it and learned how to make it on my own! She didn't have any raw papaya available at the time so she used cucumbers instead and I have been making it this way very often ever since. My husband and I both really love this salad. It is fresh, very tasty, and spicy. Simple ingredients come together for a really fresh and exotic salad.
Som Tam (Thai Salad)
Serves 8
You will need:
2 cucumbers, medium sized, peeled and finely julienned
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2 thai green chillies (can substitute serrano or jalapenos in a pinch)
3 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Optional - 1 tablespoon dried shrimp, or dried crab
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons lime juice
Mix everything together in a large bowl and let sit covered in refrigerator until ready to serve. The longer it sits (usually at least one hour or so), the more potent the flavors and the spice! I usually make a large batch of it so we can make the most out of all the time it takes to chop and prep, and get a lot of salad out of it. Enjoy!
Note: Som Tam is traditionally served with sticky rice, which is how we always eat it, and this is available at all asian grocery stores (you steam it in a bamboo steamer, very easy to make.)
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