Som Tam Pla Raa - Lao-style Papaya Salad
whether spicy (เผ็ด), less spicy (เผ็ดนิดหน่อย) or non-spicy (ไม่เผ็ด), it's gonna be AROYYY MAK MAK!
I’ve always been a big papaya salad eater, a som tam addict, I call myself. when I was 19, I was the given the chance to intern at a resort restaurant in Phuket as part of a culinary diploma I was studying in. that was the start of my interest in Thai cooking and I fell in love with the kinds of food my colleagues ate on a daily basis.
at one time, I was assigned to work the salad / cold section of the kitchen where I had to learn making a variety of Thai ‘yaam’ or mixed salads - Som Tam was a popular hit in the restaurant, as is in the whole of Thailand.
now if you’ve had the fortune of eating from a street-side Som Tam stall in Thailand, there are several versions that you can find - but the 2 general types are ‘Tam Thai’, using only fish sauce as the umami base & “Tam Lao” or “Som Tam Pla Raa” where fermented anchovy sauce (an unfiltered, funkier version fish sauce).
recently, I revisited my Som Tam obsession when I had the chance to relearn making it from Aunty Mai of Thai Supermarket. she taught me to make ‘Tam Moua’ which is simply a variation of Som Tam Pla Raa, with the addition of added ingredients like fresh prawns & dried shrimp. if prawns are not your thing, Tam Moua works well with squid, flower crab and even raw fish/sashimi.
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get the ingredients for this recipe here:
baby garlic, chilli padi, pla raa (fermented anchovy sauce), fish sauce, Thai palm sugar (gula Melaka or brown sugar works just as well), limes, green papaya, long beans, Roma tomato, carrot, dried sakura ebi, roasted peanuts, prawns.
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