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Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam)

Crunchy Thai-style green papaya salad with lime, garlic, chili, fish sauce, green beans, tomatoes and peanuts. About 136 calories per side serving.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 4 side servings
Course: Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine: Thai
Calories: 136
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Dressing
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled
  • 1-3 Thai bird's eye chilies or 1 serrano, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar 12 g
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice about 2 limes
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce for vegan
Salad
  • 4 cups shredded green papaya about 400 g, from 1 small green papaya
  • 1 medium carrot shredded, about 60 g
  • 4 oz green beans or yard-long beans cut into 2-inch pieces, about 100 g
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved, about 150 g
  • 1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts roughly crushed, about 36 g
  • fresh cilantro or Thai basil optional, to serve

Method
 

  1. Wearing gloves if your skin is sensitive, peel the green papaya with a vegetable peeler, cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out any small white seeds. Shred the flesh on the large holes of a box grater or with a julienne peeler.
  2. Soak the shredded papaya in cold water for 10 minutes to crisp it, then drain well and pat dry.
  3. In a large mortar, pound the garlic and chilies to a rough paste. If you do not have a mortar, mince them finely and mash with the side of a knife.
  4. Add the sugar, lime juice and fish sauce and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the green beans and lightly pound for a few seconds to bruise them.
  5. Add the tomatoes and pound gently once or twice to release their juice. Add the papaya and carrot and mix, using a spoon and the pestle to lightly bruise and toss everything so it absorbs the dressing.
  6. Taste and adjust: add more lime for sourness, fish sauce for saltiness, sugar for sweetness or chili for heat. Transfer to a plate, top with crushed peanuts and herbs, and serve right away.

Notes

Use firm, unripe green papaya with white flesh, not ripe orange papaya. Nutrition is estimated per side serving using ripe papaya values as a stand-in.