Som tam is a testament to the power of a little pressure.
This type of salad, which hails from Thailand’s northeastern Isan region and Laos, is built around a crisp, juicy vegetable or fruit pounded by hand in a mortar and pestle (“som” translates to “sour”; “tam,” to “pounded”).
Whether it’s papaya, chayote, cucumber, or guava in the mortar, the effect is the same: The pestle compresses the ingredient to an ultrarefreshing, dense crunchiness, the perfect foundation for a vibrant lime juice– and fish sauce–based dressing.
Sign up for the Cook's Insider newsletter
The latest recipes, tips, and tricks, plus behind-the-scenes stories from the Cook's Illustrated team.
Som tam appears everywhere in Thailand—you can order it at shops and street stalls dedicated to the salad, where it’s made to order and you’re always offered a sample to make sure it has been correctly calibrated to your taste.
But it’s also a homemade dish that appears at everyday dinners and celebrations alike, often alongside grilled chicken, steak, or other rich proteins.
“It’s very easy to make, and every time you eat it, you feel like you’re home,” said chef Pao Thampitak, founder of Boston’s Thai supper club Gaaeng.
The Wide World of Thai Salad
Som tam is just one of many types of salad that Thai cooks prepare to bring freshness to the table. While there are countless varieties, these salads can loosely be categorized into four types.
- Tam is a fruit and/or vegetable salad that’s pounded with a mortar and pestle.
- Laab is a minced or ground meat salad flavored with ground chiles, fresh herbs, lime juice, and fish sauce, and topped with khao khua (toasted rice powder).
- Yam is the most loosely defined category. It’s typically a protein and crisp, refreshing vegetables, all tossed in a bright dressing.
- Pla is gently cooked seafood or beef marinated in a dressing of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and chiles and topped with fresh herbs.
Assembling the Salad
Som tam thai, which stars green shreds of underripe papaya, is the most well-known som tam outside of Thailand, and it’s one of the most common versions of the salad within the country as well.
Thampitak said the ingredients for the dish can vary widely and that every cook makes som tam thai a bit differently, but typical components include long beans, tomatoes, peanuts, chiles, aromatics, and a preserved seafood such as dried shrimp.
Most importantly, Thampitak said, the finished product must balance the signature Thai flavor quartet of hot, sour, salty, and sweet.
Street vendors typically break down the papaya by striking it with a cleaver and then shaving off thin ribbons, a mesmerizing but perilous technique.
At home, a julienne peeler is a far safer tool for transforming the papaya’s flesh into long thin shreds.
Som Tam’s Supporting Cast
While green papaya is the base of the dish, som tam thai’s complex vibrance comes from a key lineup of other classic Thai ingredients.
- LONG BEANS, also known as yard-long beans, are a Southeast Asian bean that can grow several inches in a day. Slightly earthier and less sweet than common green beans, they bring pops of dense chew to the salad.
- PALM SUGAR is made from the nectar of coconut or toddy palm tree flowers and is often sold as a solid cake. Its complex sweetness, with notes of butterscotch and sometimes smoke,is key for balancing the tartness of the papaya and lime juice.
- GOONG HAENG are tiny shrimp that are salted and sun-dried, giving them a concentrated savory funk.
Once the papaya was shredded, I made the dressing base by adding palm sugar, garlic, peanuts, Thai chiles, and dried shrimp to the mortar and pestle and pounding the mixture to a coarse paste.
Then, I transferred it to a bowl and loosened it with some lime juice and fish sauce.
Thai cooks often use large wooden or stone mortars and pestles, allowing them to pound all the ingredients and assemble the som tam right in the mortar.
My mortar and pestle couldn’t fit all the salad ingredients in it at once, so I decided to improvise a larger setup to finish the job. I set my mortar and pestle aside and reached for a large, sturdy bowl and a wooden rolling pin, the end of which I wrapped in plastic.
I added chopped long beans and the spent lime halves to the bowl and got to work bruising them with the rolling pin and breaking them open, flavoring the beans with the aromatic oil and remaining juice from the citrus.
I took a more delicate approach to the halved cherry tomatoes, pressing them gently with the pin until they released their juices.
Buying and Shredding Green Papaya
Rarely are you going to find a properly green papaya at an American supermarket. The fully unripe papaya needed for som tam is harvested exceptionally early, and the fruit’s skin color alone isn’t enough information, since a green-skinned fruit might be partially ripe inside. To guarantee you purchase the correct kind, it’s best to go to an Asian supermarket, where they stock unripe papaya specifically for dishes like som tam. Look for fruit that is uniformly green with no yellow streaks and that feels firm and heavy for its size. If the papaya is even slightly tender when squeezed, pass it by and keep searching.
A julienne peeler, available for just a few dollars online, makes quick and easy work of shredding the green papaya. It’s also great for shredding vegetables for slaws, garnishes, or other salads.
I added the dressing followed by the papaya, pounding the fruit, stirring the bowl’s contents, and then pounding again until the dressing and juices mingled and coated each ingredient with vivid sweet-savor.
The finished salad, served with more lime wedges, sliced chiles, fish sauce, and chopped peanuts for at-the-table customization, burst with color and life. Each bite was a reminder of what makes Thai cuisine so special: that collision of brightness, heat, and freshness that feels both explosive and perfectly balanced.
Som Tam Thai (Thai-Style Papaya Salad)
Pounding compresses shredded papaya to a refreshing dense crunchiness, the perfect base for a lime juice– and fish sauce–based dressing.
Get the Recipe