Som Tham - Spicy Papaya Salad

Yield: 4 servings Heat Scale: Hot

Chantanee Som Tham, served on lettuce with cabbage.

This salad is usually served very hot, sometimes using up to 10 peppers. Coming from the Northeast of Thailand it is usually served with warm sticky rice and eaten with the fingers. The popularity of Northeastern food all over Thailand has led to restaurants that feature nothing but Som Tham, sometimes with more than 50 varieties of the salad.

Ingredients:

2 cups of peeled and grated papaya *
2 garlic gloves, finely chopped
3 thai bird peppers, stemmed and chopped *
1 1/2 tablespoons of lime juice
1 tablespoon of Thai fish sauce *
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 lettuce leaves (garnish)
Optional Ingredients:
5 cherry tomatoes halved
1 tablespoon unsalted dry peanuts
1 tablespoon dried shrimp *

* Available in Asian food stores

1 - Mash garlic and peppers together with a mortar and pestle.
2 - Combine lime juice, fish sauce and sugar in a cup or small bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
3 - Add garlic-pepper mixture, lime juice mixture and any optional ingredients desired to papaya. Stir well.
4 - Serve at room temperature on a plate with the lettuce leaves.

Our recipe was first published in the September 1998 issue of Chile Pepper magazine.