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    Thai Green Papaya Salad – Som Tum

    Jan 31, 2022 · This post may contain affiliate links · 2 Comments

    643 shares

    Read in: Deutsch

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    Thai Green Papaya Salad – Som Tum – is a popular Thai salad with crunchy green papaya, peanuts, and a tangy sweet-sour dressing! Learn how to make it with lots of step-by-step pictures.

    thai green papaya salad in a bowl
    Jump to:
    • Papaya Salad without Papaya
    • Ingredients
    • Step-by-Step Instructions
    • Storage
    • More Asian Recipes You’ll Love
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    Papaya Salad, called Som Tum in Thai, is one of the most popular and well-known Thai salads. Clearly deserved, as it represents one of the best flavors of Thailand. Thai green papaya salad is a very fresh, crunchy, tangy, healthy, and slightly sour salad that can be enjoyed daily as an appetizer or side dish!

    vegetarian green papaya salad with peanuts

    It gets its name from its main ingredient, green papaya. Unripe, meaning green, papaya makes an excellent salad ingredient. Shredded green papaya is almost neutral in flavor and slightly crunchy. Similar to an English cucumber, but somewhat less watery.

    Thai Papaya salad is rather quick and easy to prepare. What helps is having a mortar and julienne peeler at hand.

    The authentic papaya salad recipe is made with shrimp paste or dried shrimp and fish sauce. In this recipe, you will learn how to make a vegetarian/vegan green papaya salad that tastes just as delicious and intense as the original.

    macro shot of thai papaya salad

    Papaya Salad without Papaya

    Green, unripe papaya can often only be found in Asian Shops/Markets and are relatively expensive. However, if you don’t have an Asia Shop nearby, you can replace the green papaya with 1-2 English cucumbers.

    The taste of the salad is not identical to the original if using cucumbers, but it’s a proper alternative. So you don’t have to miss out on this delicious Thai salad.

    Ingredients

    See recipe card for quantities.

    Papaya Salad Ingredients
    • Thai Green Papaya → You can get green papaya at the Asian Market. Slice it with a julienne peeler for the authentic papaya salad shape. The green seeds aren’t edible.
    • Thai Long Beans → Extremely long Thai green beans. Available at the Asian Market. Can be omitted.
    • Carrot & Cherry Tomatoes
    • Peanuts → A must in Thai salads. Provide a nice crunch!
    • Garlic, Thai Chili Pepper, Fresh Lime Juice, Soy Sauce, Sugar → These are the dressing ingredients. If you don’t like your salad spicy, omit the chili peppers or reduce to only one. The garlic also infuses some heat in the dressing.

    Step-by-Step Instructions

    This visual step-by-step instruction will help you along the way – definitely recommended if you’re a cooking beginner! 

    • Place garlic cloves and chilies in a mortar and pound into a paste. Add brown sugar and Thai long beans, pound again until the sugar is dissolved. Add tomatoes and gently pound. → You can work in batches if your mortar is too small.
    Papaya Salad Recipe Step 1-3
    • Peel, then cut green papaya and carrot in julienne strips using a julienne peeler.
    Papaya Salad Recipe Step 4-5
    • Place green papaya and carrot along with the pounded ingredients, lime juice, soy sauce, and half of the crushed peanuts in a large bowl. Toss to combine. → What I learned in Thailand is to pound all ingredients with the pestle in one hand while tossing the ingredients with a spoon in the other hand for about one minute.
    Papaya Salad Recipe Step 6-7
    • Serve in a large bowl and sprinkle with the remaining peanuts.
    vegan green papaya salad in a bowl

    Storage

    Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge. Keeps fresh for one day.

    More Asian Recipes You’ll Love

    • Vermicelli Noodle Salad
    • Thai Cucumber Salad
    • Asian Cucumber Salad with Sesame
    • Thai Drunken Noodles – Pad Kee Mao
    • Vegetarian Pad See Ew
    • Vegetarian Pad Thai

    If you make this recipe, I’d love for you to give it a star rating ★ below. 

    Please follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or sign up for my free newsletter to never miss the newest recipes. I would be thrilled to welcome you to my community & thank you so much for your support! 💕

    📖 Recipe

    thai green papaya salad in a bowl

    Thai Green Papaya Salad

    Aline Cueni
    Thai Green Papaya Salad – Som Tum – is a popular Thai salad with crunchy green papaya, peanuts, and a tangy sweet-sour dressing!
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Cook Time 12 mins
    Total Time 12 mins
    Course Salad
    Cuisine Thai
    Servings 4
    Calories 136 kcal

    Ingredients
     

    • 2 cloves garlic
    • 2 Thai chilies seeded for less spicy
    • 1 tbsp brown sugar
    • 6 (75 g) Thai long beans cut into 2-inch/5 cm pieces (Note 1)
    • 5 cherry tomatoes halved
    • 1 pound (450 g) green papaya (Note 2)
    • 1 carrot
    • 2 tbsp lime juice
    • 2 tbsp soy sauce
    • ¼ cup (35 g) unsalted peanuts crushed in a mortar

    Instructions
     

    • Place garlic and chilies in a mortar and pound into a paste. Add brown sugar and Thai long beans, pound again until the sugar is dissolved. Add tomatoes and gently pound. → You can work in batches if your mortar is too small.
    • Peel, then cut green papaya and carrot in julienne strips using a julienne peeler.
    • Place green papaya and carrot along with the pounded ingredients, lime juice, soy sauce, and half of the crushed peanuts in a large bowl. Toss to combine. → What I learned in Thailand is to pound all ingredients with the pestle in one hand while tossing the ingredients with a spoon in the other hand for about one minute.
    • Serve in a large bowl and sprinkle with the remaining peanuts.

    Notes

    1. Thai Long Beans (Thai Green Beans) can be found at the Asian Market. Can be omitted or substituted with blanched green beans.
    2. Green Papaya is available in Asian Markets. Alternatively, substitute with 1-2 English cucumbers. The taste won’t be the same, but it’s a great way to not miss out on this delicious Thai salad, even if you can’t get your hands on green papaya.
    3. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.

    Recommended Products

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    Julienne Peeler

    Nutrition

    Nutrition Facts
    Thai Green Papaya Salad
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 136 Calories from Fat 45
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 5g8%
    Saturated Fat 1g6%
    Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
    Monounsaturated Fat 2g
    Sodium 527mg23%
    Potassium 422mg12%
    Carbohydrates 22g7%
    Fiber 4g17%
    Sugar 14g16%
    Protein 4g8%
    Vitamin A 3807IU76%
    Vitamin C 82mg99%
    Calcium 46mg5%
    Iron 1mg6%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    Reader Interactions

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    1. Shari Gresh Chittchang says

      December 27, 2020 at 6:28 am

      Hi, I’m Thai but have been living abroad half my life. You amazingly got all the essential ingredients right in this recipe for making Thai favorite dish. Just another option I like to make, adding chopped apples, canned pineapple, strawberries with stripped carrots as in this recipe and you’ll get a very refreshingly yummy fruit som tam dish. It goes with chilly and peanuts exactly as you have it here too!

      Reply
      • Aline Cueni says

        December 28, 2020 at 11:28 am

        Hi Shari, I am so glad I got it right! 😁 I did learn how to make it from a Thai family in Chiang Mai! Thank you so much for your recipe suggestion, I will definitively try it. Sounds delicious with your suggested fruit! 💕

        Reply

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