Prepare Thai long-bean salad with its pounded dressing

What this salad is and when to make it

An easy spicy Thai long bean salad of this kind is som tum tua, a pounded salad from Isan in northeastern Thailand. The cook Praew, who presents her version under that name, builds it the way papaya som tum is built. The dressing is crushed and mixed in a mortar, and the beans go into the same mortar so they absorb the seasoning. The result should be beans that are bruised and starting to split but still crunchy, coated in a dressing that is salty from fish sauce, sour from tamarind and lime, lightly sweet from palm sugar and hot from dried chilies.

Praew suggests serving it with grilled chicken or pork and sticky rice. Her recipe calls for serving the salad immediately, so it suits a meal where you pound it just before eating. It is not a dish to dress ahead and hold.

Identifying the beans

The bean is the yardlong bean, sold as Chinese long beans or snake beans. The pods are long and slender, much longer than ordinary green beans. Praew notes that green beans can stand in for them in this recipe.

Ingredients

Ingredient	Amount (Praew's formula)	Notes
Yardlong beans	10 beans	Cut into 1-inch pieces; green beans can substitute
Garlic	1 clove	Crushed first with the chilies
Dried chilies	4	Adjust to your heat preference
Palm sugar	1/2 tbsp	Pounded until dissolved
Fish sauce	2 tbsp	Main salty seasoning
Fermented fish sauce	1 tbsp	Optional; a separate ingredient from regular fish sauce
Tamarind paste	1 tbsp	Sour element alongside lime
Lime	1/2	Juice squeezed in, peel added to the mortar
Small tomatoes	2	Halved

Equipment: a mortar and pestle large enough to hold the beans and dressing while you pound and toss, plus a knife and cutting board for the beans, tomatoes and lime.

Method, in order

1. Cut the yardlong beans into 1-inch pieces and halve the tomatoes before you start pounding. Once the dressing is mixed, the salad moves quickly.
2. Put the garlic and dried chilies in the mortar and crush them together. Decide on your heat level here: fewer chilies makes a milder salad, and it is easier to hold back now than to correct later.
3. Add the bean pieces and pound gently. You are bruising the beans, not mashing them. Stop when they begin to split.
4. Add the fish sauce, the fermented fish sauce if you are using it, the tamarind paste and the palm sugar. Pound and mix until the sugar has dissolved into the liquid.
5. Squeeze in the lime juice and drop the squeezed lime peel into the mortar. Add the tomatoes and mix gently so they are coated but not crushed.
6. Taste. If it needs more sourness, add lime. If it needs more salt, add fish sauce. Mix again.
7. Serve right away.

How to judge progress and the finished salad

After crushing the aromatics: the garlic and chilies are broken down together in the mortar.
During the bean stage: the pieces start to split along their length but still feel firm and crunchy. If they are going limp or turning to pulp, you have pounded too hard or too long. Ease off when you add the seasonings.
After adding the seasonings: no grains or lumps of palm sugar remain. Keep pounding and mixing if you can still see or feel undissolved sugar.
After adding lime and tomatoes: the tomatoes are coated and mostly intact rather than smashed.
At the final taste: the balance of salty, sour, sweet and hot suits you. Correct it with lime or fish sauce, as in step 6, before serving.

Adjustments and substitutions

For heat, change the number of dried chilies. If you leave out the fermented fish sauce, the regular fish sauce still carries the seasoning, and you can adjust it at the tasting stage. If you can't find yardlong beans, use green beans and follow the same gentle pounding, stopping while they still have crunch.