The dish combines the five main
basic tastes: the sourness of the lime, spiciness of the chili,
saltiness and
savoriness of the
fish sauce, and sweetness of
palm sugar. Pounded salads in Laos all fall under the parent category of
tam som, which may or may not contain green papaya; when no specific type of
tam som is mentioned, it is generally understood to refer to green papaya salad. For absolute clarity, however, the name
tam maak hoong may be used, since this name means "pounded papaya". In Thailand, it is customary for a customer to ask the preparer to make the dish suited to the customer's own tastes. To specifically refer to the original style of papaya salad as prepared in Laos or Isan, it is known as or
som tam Lao or simply as
tam Lao and the dish as prepared in central Thailand may be referred to as
som tam Thai. Traditionally, the local variety of green papaya salad in the streets of Bangkok is very spicy due to the addition of a fistful of chopped hot
bird's eye chili. However, with its rising popularity among tourists, it is now often served less spicy than it used to be in the past.
Additional ingredients pounding green papaya salad in
Bangkok is a popular combination in Laos and Thailand. Together with the papaya, some or most of the following secondary items are added and pounded in the mortar with the pestle: •
Asparagus beans • Brined "rice field crabs". These belong to the freshwater crab genera
Sayamia,
Chulathelphusa, and
Esanthelphusa (previously classified as part of the genus
Somanniathelphusa), which all belong to the
Gecarcinucid crab subfamily
Parathelphusinae. found in flooded rice fields and canals.
Isan people eat the entire crab, including the shell. •
Chili pepper •
Dried shrimp • Fish sauce •
Garlic •
Monosodium glutamate •
Hog plums •
Lime slice and lime juice • Palm sugar •
Shrimp paste •
Fish paste • Raw
Thai eggplant •
Cherry or
grape tomatoes (green or ripe) Green papaya salad is often served with
glutinous rice and
kai yang/
ping gai (grilled chicken). It can also be eaten with fresh
rice noodles or simply as a snack by itself with, for instance, crispy
pork rinds. The dish is often accompanied by raw green vegetables such as
water spinach and
white cabbage wedges on the side to mitigate the spiciness of the dish. ==Variations==