Som Tam Talay ส้มตำทะเล Green Papaya Salad With Grilled Seafood

Day 15 of our carbless diet - I hope everyone is enjoying the Thai dishes because we certainly are over at the tummies'. This Issarn classic is best served with some steamed sticky rice but for us dieter this makes a wonderful meal on its own. After weeks of Mediterranean dishes, Thai food sure was a refreshing change for us. I will end my very short Thai affair with another delicious Thai dish so please come back again to check it out tomorrow! 

P.S For my green papaya salad with grilled prawns, click HERE.

serves 2 as a one dish meal or 4 as part of a Thai meal

you'll need;

1 medium size green papaya (yield 2 1/2 cups), peeled and shredded

4 large prawns, grilled

6 mussels, scrubbed and removed beards, grilled and removed one half of the shell

250g of tuna, grilled briefly and sliced

12 scallops, 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

Some of the ingredients needed.

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.

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 seafood in batches, be careful not to overcook them.

Divide som tam and serve immediately with grilled seafood.