Preparation
The dish combines the four main tastes of the local cuisine: sour lime, hot chili, salty, savory fish sauce, and sweetness added by palm sugar. The ingredients are mixed and pounded in a mortar; the Thai name som tam literally translates as "sour pounded". The Khmer and Laotian names, bok l'hong and tam mak hoong, respectively, both literally mean "pounded papaya".
Despite the use of papaya, which one may think of as sweet, this salad is actually savory. When not yet ripe, papaya has a slightly tangy flavor. The texture is crisp and firm, sometimes to the point of crunchiness. It is this that allows the fruit to withstand being beaten in the mortar.
In Thailand, it is customary that a customer ask the preparer to make the dish suited to his or her tastes. To specifically refer to the dish as prepared traditionally in Laos or Isan, it is known as ส้มตำลาว or som tam Lao or simply as tam Lao.
Traditionally the local variety of Som Tam in the streets of Bangkok is very hot due to the addition of a fistfull of chopped hot Thai Chili, however with its rising popularity among tourists, it is often served now not as hot.
Read more about this topic: Green Papaya Salad
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