Saturday 1 February 2014

Some Thai Green Papaya Salad

It's called Som Tam actually, but thats not what I made.
Wait! you say.Um, its been a year and this is how we start off?

YEAAH! We start with food :D
Where was I? Yeah , I was busy gathering experiences in the kitchen and life- meeting new people, making new mistakes, discovering new music. Also being wrapped up in my blanket cuz its Just. SO. COLD :|
And what do we do to punch cold in the face? Make a summery salad and blog about it *jazz hands*

Focus Sophia!
Som Tam is a Thai salad made with green papaya. And as authenticity is my moto I got the traditional recipe from ...The Internet! An American food website at that . And I didn't have all the right ingredients so I substituted a lot. And then my palate didn't love it so I added other stuff.
Unlike baking-which is a precise science -, Cooking(or not even cooking since Im just making a salad) is an art. The art of winging it and being lucky. Well no its not that bad but its not about precision , it's about what feels right.

That is why I claim to have made a just a Green Papaya Salad. For kindof authentic Som Tam try my source.
Green papya

Massacred in the box grater

Roasting my own peanuts . Feel free to get if from a packet.

My Mise-en

For the dressing

Green Papaya Salad

Ingredients

1/2 Green Papaya
15 Green Beans(French Beans)
2 Tomatoes
2 Spring Onions
A handful of Parsley
1/2 cup Roasted Salted Peanuts
1 Kinnow/Kinu/ Orange/Madarin/ The citrus brother in your hood
Kinnow or Kinu- A hybrid Juicer Indian orange

Dressing :
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Jaggery/Palm Sugar/Whatever sweetens your fancy
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Fresh Red Chilli
1 Lemon

Method:

  • Boil some water in a pot. Add salt. Add the beans and cook until half done.
  • Peel the papaya and grate it using a box grater or a shredder
  • Finely chop the tomatoes, spring onions and parsley.
  • Roughly chop the Citrus fruit and peanuts
  • Now mix it all together in a bowl
  • In a blender, blend all the dressing ingredients
                          OR
           Chop the garlic and chilli. Muddle all the ingredients in a mortar pestle
  • Pour over the salad
  • Mix 


Now indulge in a ray of summer in the middle of winter.


Ps- I just found out that Som Tam is No 46 on CNN's list of 50 best foods in the World!
NOTE TO SELF: Must make the remaining 49 .