Som Tam Winter Heaven
Getting a bit tired of winter soups and stews I tried out this lovely NE Thai dish, Som Tam set.
Marinated grilled chicken or pork, marinade is up to you. Cut into slices
Rice - the original uses sticky rice and the salad is eaten by forming little cresents in the hand, then used to pick up the salad. No cutlery needed. Good quality jasmine rice from a rice cooker is fine.
Som Tam Salad
Pappaya is difficult to get, but cucumber works just great (carrot does not in my opinion)
Shred cucumber into strips
Ratio of 1/2 lime to 1 cucumber
5- 6 cherry tomatoes halved
three small chilli
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 table spoon fish sauce
Put the chilli, garlic, sugar and salt into a mortar and pestal and pound. Combine with other ingredients and garnish salad with unsalted peanuts.
The som tam lady is an important figure on Bangkok streets and it is impossible to recreate her art. The above is just an outline that works and I wanted to scribble this recipe down. Apologies for the chaotic recipe, the result is deliciously sour and pleasant on a cold winter day :-)
