[Sca-cooks] Thai Salad

[Mercy Neumark]

Hi Everyone!

On Sunday I went to a local Thai Temple for their new year's festival.  It
was PACKED (at least 600+ people), and about 80 degrees (or so it felt) and
MAN were there LOTS of great food.

One thing I had, that I waiting 45 minutes in line for (hey, it was 25
minutes into it when I realized how long it had been and I wasn't leaving
the line after all that time was invested) was this papaya salad.  I had
NEVER eating it before, but it looked very good.

Needless to say it was well worth the wait.  Today I went online to look for
recipes, so I thought I would share my findings.

http://importfood.com/

Great place for Thai ingrediants it seems.  Check it out!

And here are three different recipes I came across.  Have fun!  It's GREAT
for the summer.  This probably ISN'T period, but it certainly is good!

--Arte

Thai Papaya Salad, "Som Tam Isan"   <http://importfood.com/giftsets.html>
<http://importfood.com/giftsets.html>
This is an ImportFood.com online Thai recipe. Here you can conveniently
purchase authentic, quality ingredients imported from Thailand. We hope you
enjoy our website and it helps you enjoy cooking Thai food! Click here to
see our set of two full-color cookbooks
<http://importfood.com/cbookset.html>.
This is a typical isan (Northeast Thailand) dish. It can be made with or
without the plara (pickled mud fish). Potential cooks are warned: this
ingredient smells foul but it does taste nice. Som tam is a basic "salad"
style dish, eaten as a snack.

Ingredients

One papaya julienned.
8-10 Thai chile peppers <http://importfood.com/fptc0601.html>, de-stalked,
cut in four length-wise then in half cross-wise.
8-10 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
2 tomatoes sliced thinly
half a cup of long beans (green beans) cut into 1" pieces
pinch of salt
two teaspoons of fish sauce <http://importfood.com/sati7501.html>
1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate <http://importfood.com/sads1001.html>
mixed with 3 tablespoons water
juice from two tablespoons of pickled mud-fish
<http://importfood.com/sppa0801.html>.

Method

Sprinkle the julienned papaya with salt and let stand for half an hour or
so, then squeeze and discard any fluid. Add the chili, and pound in our clay
mortar and pestle <http://importfood.com/claymortarpestle.html>. Add the
remaining ingredients except the tomato, and pound until mixed and tender.
Add the tomato, and serve with a bowl of sticky rice.

You can increase the proportion of chilis until this is a bowl of red fire,
and it will still be authentic. On the other hand you can reduce the chilis
to just a hint and it will also still be authentic. It all depends on your
taste preference. The above 50:50 mix is about typical of the region.

If you wish you can decorate the salad with chopped roast peanuts, sliced
green onions, and mint leaves. You can also include [raw] bean sprouts and
sliced cucumber as side dishes. Thais generally eat lettuce or some cabbage
related vegetable as a side dish also. The normal way to eat it is to rip a
piece of lettuce leaf, and take a mouthful of som tam in the leaf and eat it
without knife, fork or spoon. If you want to be a bit more western use a
standard salad, or even an exotic such as a Waldorf Salad as a side dish...


Green Papaya Salad
2	Large	Carrots
2	8 ounce	Green papayas
1	Clove	Garlic
1-3	Small	Red or green hot chilis
3 to 4		Long beans	Chopped 1 inch pieces
2	Tablespoons	Lemon juice
1	Tablespoon	Lite soy sauce
1	Teaspoon	Sugar
1	Medium	Tomato	Chopped
1	Tablespoon	Peanuts	Finely chopped
2	Large	Chinese cabbage leaves
1. Peel the green papaya. Using a Mandoline finely shred the papaya flesh
into long thin shreds. Do the same with the carrot. Place in a bowl and set
aside.
2. In a mortar, lightly pound the garlic, add the chilis and lightly pound
again. Add lemon juice and soy sauce and sugar, stir and pour over papaya
carrot mixture.
3. Lightly bruise the long beans and cut into 1-inch lengths. Add to salad.
3. Arrange cabbage leaves on a plate. Place papaya carrot mixture on leaves
and garnish with tomato and crushed peanuts.
HINT: If you do have a mandolina use a cheese grater.

Green Papaya Salad
Serves 4
2-1/2 cups shredded, peeled green papaya
2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
3 ounces cooked baby shrimp (optional)
Dressing
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped hot chili peppers
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon chopped Thai basil
1 teaspoon chopped mint
1 teaspoon sugar
1. Combine the grated papaya with the sliced tomatoes and shrimp, if using,
in a large bowl.
2. Combine all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and whisk
until combined.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and lightly toss to coat evenly.


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