Som Tam Kab Gung Yang ส้มตำกับกุ้งย่าง Green Papaya Salad With Grilled Tiger Prawns

Som tam (directly translated as sour pounded) or green papaya salad has to be one of the best known Thai dishes around. There are many different versions across the country, some with pickled mud fish or pickled crab (Issarn version) which might not be too appealing to most of you. This is a Central Thai version and it is what one would get in most Thai restaurants outside of Thailand. I paired it with some grilled prawns and boy it was a  marriage made in heaven! You can of course serve it plain, with grilled chicken or poached seafood. If you are unable to get unripe papaya try using carrot instead, it might not be authentic but it will still be pretty delicious. I hope this will make my friends and readers who requested som tam over the last few months very happy. Enjoy!

serves 4 as part of a Thai meal
you'll need;
1 medium size green papaya (yield 2 1/2 cups), peeled and shredded
10 to 12 tiger prawns, peeled and butterflied with head and tails intact, grilled
6 long beans, cut into 5 cm lenghts
11/2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
6 to 10 bird chilies (adjust to your liking)
5 garlic cloves
2 tbs of palm sugar
2 to 3 tbs of fish sauce
juice of half a lime
a handful of dried shrimp
a handful of crushed peanuts

Peel the unripe papaya and shred it with a corrugated peeler.

If you don't have such a peeler do it the traditional way -  make long shallow cuts lengthwise on the fruit and then shave the cut flesh off.

A medium size fruit should yield 2 to 2 1/2 cups of shredded flesh.

Pound chilies, garlic and palm sugar in a mortar and pestle, slowly add in the dried shrimps and continue to pound. Add long bean and bruise it lightly.

Next add in the shredded green papaya and continue to (gently) pound (I replaced the pestle with a wooden rolling pin at this stage). Slowly add in the fish sauce, tomato wedges and peanuts. More crushing and mixing.

Mix well and check for seasonings. It should taste hot, sour, sweet and salty. Adjust to your liking.

Grill prawns on a hot griddle.

You may serve this plain with wedges of cabbage, thai eggplant and steamed sticky rice.

Or add some grilled prawns or serve along side some Thai bbq chicken.