Papaya salad, also known as som tam or tam bak hung, is a popular Thai street food made from unripe papaya, vinegar, fish sauce, lime, chili, and palm sugar. It is often served with barbecue chicken and sticky rice and can also include ingredients such as garlic, shrimp paste, and pickled crabs. The salad is prepared by shredding the papaya and mixing it with the sauce and other seasonings. It can be served immediately or left to sit for a deeper flavor. The dish is common in other parts of Southeast Asia and can be made with other immature fruits and vegetables. The Thai government has warned about the potential health dangers of pickled crabs often served with the salad.
Papaya salad is a popular Thai street food made from unripe, shredded papaya fruit and served in a sweet and tangy vinegar-based sauce. It is also known as som tam and tam bak hung. The main ingredients of papaya salad are green papaya, vinegar, fish sauce, lime, chili and palm sugar. It is most commonly served with barbecue chicken and sticky rice. Papaya salad is also common in other parts of Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Other ingredients typically found in papaya salad include garlic, shrimp paste, dried shrimp, long beans, and tomatoes. The salad may also contain pickled crabs, which are small black creatures commonly found in local rice paddies. Some recipes also include tamarind juice and peanuts. Both the Thai and Lao versions of the dish can have pork prunes. While much less common, a similar salad can also be made with other immature fruits and vegetables such as cucumbers, mangoes, and carrots.
Although papaya salad is often served with sticky rice and chicken, it can accompany raw vegetables or be served over rice noodles. It is also served with crispy pork rinds as a snack. The main purpose of any food served with papaya salad is to manage the spiciness of the dish. Papaya salad is prepared in such a way that the spices are absorbed by the fruit and vegetables in the salad. By itself, unripe papaya is rather bland.
To prepare the salad, a firm papaya is peeled and shredded into thin ribbons. It is then dipped in a mixture of vinegar and sugar so it can absorb the flavours. The process gives the fruit a slightly pickled flavor. Next, seasonings and other accompaniments are added to the papaya-sauce mixture. The garlic and chili peppers are ground into a paste. Then the other ingredients are added gradually, pounded until bruised, so they can absorb the flavor of the spices. Papaya salad can be served immediately, but takes on a deeper, more complex flavor when left to sit — for a few hours or up to a day.
Papaya salad is a common street food in Thailand. Customers usually order the salad according to their tastes, choosing variations ranging from the amount of spiciness to the other ingredients in the salad. Because the pickled crab often served with papaya salad is not cooked, the Thai government has regularly warned its citizens of its potential health dangers, including the risk of hepatitis.
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