Som Thum Tua

By Arnold Myint

4.0

(1)

Active Time

10 minutes

Total Time

10 minutes

When I was younger I would return home from summer vacations in Thailand with a craving for som thum, a popular green papaya salad I would eat during my trips. But back in my hometown of Nashville, green papaya was not easily accessible at that time, so my mother made it work with what she had, satiating my request for the salad without sacrificing the distinct notes of a classic som thum. My mother’s solve? Using carrots and/or green beans in lieu of the papaya. I respectfully accepted this as the closest (and best) alternative in my landlocked Southern state. However, and with great irony, on an annual family vacation, I found myself at a high-end restaurant where I was served a carrot som thum: the restaurant’s spin on the green papaya versions. Many years later I still find myself using one of my mother’s trusty papaya alternatives—green beans—to make this dish, not purely for accessibility sake, but because the texture and flavor are really next-level (perhaps my mom was a trendsetter?).

Som thum has many regionally specific variations. In central Thailand (Bangkok), where my family is from, som thum Thai is made with fish sauce, peanuts, and dried shrimp—probably the most subtle of versions. Som thum pa la, made with fermented fish or crab, is associated with the northeastern Isaan region of Thailand where raw Thai eggplant is also incorporated, while som thum kapi, made with shrimp paste, is common in southern regions like Songkla and Surat Thani. Despite these differences there are foundational similarities of palm sugar, tomatoes, Thai chile, raw garlic, and skin-on lime slices that once combined in a mortar and pestle create an unrivaled flavor nirvana. Som thum is great as a sidekick to char-grilled chicken or barbecue pork and is commonly eaten with cabbage wedges and sticky rice.

If the mixture starts splashing while you smash, drape a dish towel over the mortar and pestle and continue pounding to prevent any mess. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a zip-top bag and rolling pin to smash the ingredients.

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Fish Sauce

$15 At Amazon

Dried Shrimp

$21 At Amazon

Mortar and Pestle

$36 At Amazon

4 servings

Combine 3 Thai chiles, stems removed, 6 garlic cloves, ¼ cup dried shrimp, and ¼ cup granulated coconut palm sugar or 1.5 oz. whole coconut palm sugar, coarsely chopped, in a mortar and pound with pestle until sugar dissolves slightly and chiles, garlic, and shrimp are crushed to a textured paste, 1–2 minutes.

Cut 1 lime into eighths to make wedges. Squeeze juice of 3 wedges into mortar and pestle, then add juiced wedges. Set remaining 5 wedges aside. Add ¾ cup cherry tomatoes (about 4 oz.) and pound to smash lime wedges and break up tomatoes, 1–2 minutes.

Add 2 Tbsp. fish sauce, 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice, and one fourth of 1 lb. green beans, trimmed, cut into 2" pieces, and pound until green beans break up slightly. (There should be a significant amount of juice at this point.) Add remaining beans a handful at time, pounding after each addition and transferring to a large bowl as you go if needed, until all of the green beans are broken up.

Add ¼ cup salted dry-roasted peanuts and smash just to lightly crush. (Do not over-grind; it will give the salad a mealy texture.) If working in batches, mix everything together in bowl.

Taste som thum and add more palm sugar if needed. Squeeze in juice from reserved lime wedges to taste. Transfer som thum to a large shallow bowl and top with chopped salted dry-roasted peanuts if desired. Serve with cabbage wedges and sticky rice if desired.

How would you rate Som Thum Tua-Thai (Som-Thum-Style Green Beans)?

Leave a Review

I have made this twice now, once “as is” and once with a few variations. The variations were blanching the beans and not pounding them or the tomatoes, and adding a few fresh herbs from the garden (mint, cilantro, Thai basil). Both the original and modified are delicious. For those of us with aging wrists, I recommend a food processor or blender for the dressing. I suspect it would also be good with grated or julienned kohlrabi, which I’ve used as a green papaya substitute in the past.

Alexis Eastman

Madison, WI

8/7/2023