Thai Green Papaya Salad Recipe: Learn How to Make Som Tam With a Thai Chef by Elisa Schmitz

Thailand is a country rich in delicious food. At the J.W. Marriott in Phuket, they offer a Ginja Cooking School, where you can learn to make authentic Thai dishes with one of their chefs. We learned how to make a delicious, healthy dish called Som Tam (green papaya salad). Here's how!

You'll need:

• 1 cup shredded green papaya (soak in water for 10 minutes first) 
• 2 cloves garlic 
• 5 cherry tomatoes 
• 1 long string bean or french bean, cut into 1-inch-long pieces 
• 1 chili pepper (or less, depending on how much spice you like) 
• 10 pieces of dried shrimp (soak in water for 10 minutes first) 
• 1 tablespoon unsalted toasted peanuts

Dressing

• 3 tablespoons lime juice 
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce 
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar (in Thailand, they use fresh palm sugar, but if you can't find it, the dried and hard version can be used as long as you grate it and heat it up)

Here's how to make it:

1. For the dressing, mix ingredients together until palm sugar dissolves.
2. For the salad, pound garlic and chili in mortar, then dried shrimp and peanut. Add long bean and lightly pound. Add papaya and dressing, pound well. Add tomato. Softly pound, then serve.