Som Tam Ingredients and Mortar Technique

What the mortar does for som tam

Som tam, the Thai green papaya salad, is described in the recipes reviewed here as a salad pounded in a mortar, with its ingredients mixed and pounded together in the same vessel. One general outline divides the process into two stages. First, green papaya is cut into shreds. Second, the shreds are mixed with the other ingredients for seasoning. In the recipes, the mortar handles the second stage. It crushes aromatics such as garlic and chilies, works in the seasonings and vegetables, and then combines everything with the papaya.

Use this technique to make som tam in its pounded style, where the aromatics, the seasoning and the salad all come together in one mortar. The supplied material does not explain why pounding is preferred over mixing a dressing separately and tossing the salad. Any claim that the mortar gives a better texture or flavor is therefore unverified here.

Ingredients and equipment

The recipes reviewed do not share one ingredient list. The table collects every ingredient that appears in at least one of them, shows how it is used, and marks which ones are not vegetarian.

Ingredient | How the recipes use it | Vegetarian status

Green papaya | Cut into shreds; added near the end and mixed | Plant ingredient

Carrot | Shredded and added with the papaya | Plant ingredient

Garlic | Pounded first | Plant ingredient

Thai chilies | Pounded together with the garlic | Plant ingredient

Long beans | Added after the garlic and chilies; pounded lightly | Plant ingredient

Roasted peanuts | Pounded roughly with garlic in one recipe; pounded lightly with long beans in another | Plant ingredient

Tomato | Added with the seasonings; pounded briefly | Plant ingredient

Palm sugar or sugar | Seasoning | Check the label of the packaged product

Tamarind paste | Seasoning; pounded briefly | Check the label of the packaged product

Lime juice | Added to taste | Plant ingredient

Fish sauce | Seasoning | Not vegetarian

Dried shrimp | Added after the long beans and peanuts, then pounded | Not vegetarian

You need a mortar and pestle. One recipe specifies a wooden pestle and a clay mortar. The supplied material does not give a mortar size, and it does not name a tool for shredding the papaya.

Quantities are mostly missing. The only measurements in the available text are two. One recipe says to pound the garlic and chilies together about 5 to 8 times. The same recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of an ingredient whose name is cut off. No ingredient amounts, serving size or chili count can be verified, so take quantities from a complete recipe.

Making it vegetarian

Two of the standard ingredients are animal products: fish sauce and dried shrimp. The minimum change for a vegetarian version is to leave both out. The supplied material does not give a vegetarian replacement for either one, an amount for a replacement, or how removing them changes the balance of the salad. Any substitute you choose is your own decision, not a verified recommendation. One source presents two som tam recipes, but its content was not available, so it cannot be confirmed whether either of them is vegetarian.

Before you call the finished salad vegetarian, read the labels on every packaged ingredient, including tamarind paste, sugar and any substitute sauce. The supplied material does not establish what those products contain.

Pounding order, step by step

The sequence below combines the reviewed recipes. They agree that the aromatics go in first and the papaya goes in late. They differ on some details, which are listed after the steps. Steps that apply only to the standard, non-vegetarian version are marked.

• 1. Cut the green papaya into shreds. Shred carrot too if you are using it.
• 2. Put the garlic and Thai chilies in the mortar and pound until crushed. One recipe gives about 5 to 8 pestle strokes.
• 3. Add the long beans and roasted peanuts and pound lightly.
• 4. Standard version only: add the dried shrimp and pound. Skip this step for a vegetarian version.
• 5. Add the palm sugar, tamarind paste and tomato, plus fish sauce in the standard version, and pound briefly.
• 6. Add lime juice to taste.
• 7. Add the shredded papaya and carrot and mix well.
• 8. Serve on a plate.

The recipes differ in a few places. One pounds the garlic alone first, pounds the peanuts roughly with it, and then adds the papaya and carrot. Its text is cut off after that point, so the rest of its order is unknown. Another recipe adds the lime juice together with the fish sauce and sugar instead of after them. None of the available text says whether to keep pounding once the papaya is in or only to mix. The one recipe that covers this step says to mix well.

Judging progress and adjusting

Stage | Cue given in the recipes | What is not specified

Garlic and chilies | Pounded until crushed; about 5 to 8 strokes in one recipe | How fine the crush should be

Long beans and peanuts | Pounded lightly; peanuts pounded roughly in one recipe | What the beans or peanuts should look like afterward

Seasonings and tomato | Pounded briefly | How long brief pounding lasts, or what the tomato should look like

Lime juice | Added to taste | The target balance of flavors

Papaya and carrot | Mixed well | Whether the papaya should be pounded at all

Finished salad | No cue supplied | How a correctly finished salad should look or taste

Tasting is the only point where the recipes tell you to adjust: add lime juice to taste. The supplied material has no guidance on fixing a salad that is too salty, too sweet or too hot. The pounding terms "lightly," "roughly" and "briefly" are also never defined.

Safety

The supplied material contains no safety guidance on handling chilies, using a mortar, or storing the finished salad. The ingredient list includes peanuts, and the standard version includes shrimp and fish sauce. If you are cooking for anyone with dietary restrictions, tell them about these ingredients.