With a balance of fiery chilies, sweet palm sugar, tangy lime juice, and pungent fish sauce, shredded papaya salad is a classic for a reason. It’s the ideal side for a summer cookout, but it also packs up well if you want to take it with you to a picnic at the beach or park.
While the dish is a staple of Thai cuisine, it likely originated in Laos and came to Thailand via Isaan, a region in the northeast of the country. Today som tum (sometimes spelled som tam) is pounded in wood or clay mortars and pestles from Bangkok to small towns across the country. There are many variations, including ones with apple, cucumber, pineapple, and green mango. If this is your first time making green papaya salad, you might not know that, rather than a distinct variety, a green papaya is simply an unripe papaya. For the quickest prep, use a julienne peeler to whittle the fruit’s firm flesh into strips. Don’t have one? Use a julienne blade on a mandoline or simply slice the papaya into thin planks and then trim the planks into julienned slivers.
Many of the ingredients in this recipe are easily found in larger supermarkets, but you could also head to your nearest Southeast Asian market to pick up the dried shrimp, long beans, and more. Online grocery stores, like Weee! can also deliver many of these items straight to your door.
