Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum)
Relishing One Last Som Tum as Summer ends for most cities in Australia.
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Green Papayas are so good for your health. They are great for the digestive system, heart health, and skin. My sister-in-law from East Timor says the smaller they are, the better they are for your health, and they are a must to eat when you are pregnant and lactating.
All of that aside, I just love them. They can be difficult to find but well worth it. And here in Australia, it is quite easy to grow your own.
I have this green papaya recipe in my small raw food book, but I made my own vegan fish sauce in this version I share with you today. And instead of the traditional peanuts, I use pecans and cashews for the crunch and added protein. I love to eat it alongside white jasmine rice.
Growing up in Darwin, this was my childhood comfort food and is now one of my nostalgia dishes. I would love to hear what your nostalgic food is.
Green Papaya Salad
Ingredients
1.5 kg green papayas (weight with skin on)
A handful of green beans sliced at an angle into small pieces
Handful of cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
3 spring onions, white parts and some green too
Handful each of roasted cashews and pecans
Handful of washed coriander
1 to 5 chillies (depending on how hot you like it) cut small
3 tbsp fish sauce (recipe below)
1 tbsp tamari
3 tbsp lime juice
3 tsp maple syrup
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp olive or sesame oil
Ingredients for Vegan ‘Fish’ Sauce
¼ cup dried porcini
2 sundried tomatoes
200 ml boiling water
1tbsp miso
3 tbsp tamari
2 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar
2 cloves garlic minced
1 nori sheet broken into small pieces
8 capers chopped fine
Method for the Vegan ‘Fish’ Sauce
Place the sundried tomatoes and porcini mushrooms in the boiling water and let sit until the water cools down. Then, place it in a blender and blitz until it is smooth. Place the sundried tomato and porcini water in a bowl with a lid and mix in all the other ingredients (except the nori and the capers). Once the ingredients are well mixed, add the nori and capers, then let sit for at least three hours. Overnight is even better. When ready to use strain the liquid through a sieve.
Method for the Papaya Salad
Cut the papayas in half, scoop out the seeds and remove the peel with a vegetable peeler. Grate the green papaya. Then place the grated papaya in a mortar and pound them until they are slightly bruised.
Add the tomatoes, green beans and chillies and pound them too.
Mix the fish sauce, tamari, lime juice, maple, garlic and oil in a mixing bowl.
Remove the papaya, tomatoes, beans and chilli and place in the mixing bowl with the fish sauce etc.
Fold everything together then serve into one big bowl or individual bowls and sprinkle on the spring onions, coriander, pecans and cashews.
If you have made too much (I deliberately do) it is great to eat the next day, as the flavour just gets better and better. Keep in the fridge for freshness.
Enjoy, and I Hope you have a delicious week!
With gratitude Veet
I recently made a green papaya curry and I was very happy with how well it turned out. I will definitely be exploring more ways to eat it. My favorite nostalgic food would be potato dumplings my mother made. She filled them with small plums or apricots. After the dumplings are cooked in boiling water they get rolled into toasted bread crumbs and dusted with powdered sugar. So good.