Som tam thua recipe

Spicy long bean salad or tam thua in Thai. Its name is short, yet it is yummy, healthy and quick to make. You should try it whenever you visit Isan style restaurants.

The data from a search engine like google indicates that som tam is well recognise by many people. Nevertheless, in my opinion, when talking about this, many people often think of the spicy vegetable salad, made with shredded unripe papaya as the main ingredient.

Exactly, instead of unripe papaya, fruits and other kinds of vegetables, such as apple, star apple, mango, long bean, cucumber, etc. are also often used.

Even though som tom thua is very easy to make, it is packed with colour, contrast, harmony and flavour which each enhance each other to make the dish delectable to try.

Ingredients

• 100 g long beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
• ½ shredded carrot
• 10 fresh small-size chili peppers (use bird’s eye chili if available)
• 5 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp sugar (use palm sugar if available)
• 5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• ¼ cup roasted peanut
• Fresh vegetables, such as lettuce, long beans, mint, etc., for serving along with.

Direction

1. With a mortar and a pestle, pound the long beans to just crack and bruise. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
2. Add fresh chili and garlic into the mortar and pound together with the pestle to just crack.
3. Add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and stir and press with the pestle to dissolve the sugar.
4. Add cherry tomatoes and then, stir and pound gently to just bruise.
5. Add pounded long beans (from step no. 1), and shredded carrot. Then, pound gently and stir to combine.
6. Add roasted peanut and then, stir to combine.
7. Transfer to place on a serving plate. Arrange vegetables on the side.

The amount of fish sauce, lime juice and sugar can be adjusted to suit diners’ tastes.