Somtam Thai

A lazy Sunday afternoon having a look around my local "Somtam" shop in my little soi between Langsuan and Ratchadamri Road.

"Somtam", or papaya salad, is a hot spicy salad that forms part of the staple diet of the North East of Thailand (Issarn). It is eaten accompanied by sticky rice and fresh herbs and vegetables and as such represents a cheap and readily available balanced diet. It usually contains papaya, chopped 'tua-fak-yaow', peanuts, tomatoes, fresh red chilis, fish sauce, lime juice, suger, honey, garlic, dried shrimps, fresh crab, and a raw fish mix called "Bplaa-raa".

This latter ingredient, held absolutely essential by all the girls from Issarn - I still find unpalatable! The smell for one thing and I have never been able to get accustomed to it in all my time here.

I just need to check on whether the basil leaf that I mentioned in the commentary was in fact the sweet basil, or what they refer to as the spicy one.

Not sure about the white Thai whisky that often accompanies it in Ubon either, but that is for another video!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Somtam
• Thai;
• Issarn
• food
• ส้มตำไทย;
• อาหารอิสาร