SOM TOM --- aka Papaya Puk Puk
Ask Thai people what their favorite foods are, and here in northeast Thailand, you will most likely get one of two answers: somtom, or pat grapow. AND, if it's not very spicy, it is probably mai arroy (not delicious), or arroy nit noi, (not very delicious), or "so-so".
Somtom, or papaya puk puk (raw papaya salad, in English terms), is a very popular dish everywhere in Thailand and in neighboring Laos. They also eat it in neighboring Myanmar. There are many varieties of this dish: somtom Thai and somtom Lao being two distinct and popular varieties.
One of the distinguishing differences between somtom Thai and somtom Lao is the fish sauce that is used. In somtom Thai, traditional fish sauce is used, pretty much the same stuff you could buy in most Asian markets in America. But to make somtom Lao, a fermented fish sauce is used that makes the taste very different. Nam palaa,
or fermented fish sauce, is probably unique to Thai Issan (northeast
Thailand) and Lao cuisine, and is a good quantum leap different in taste
and smell from traditional Thai fish sauce, or nam plaa. (note the addition of one "a" in Thai Issan fish sauce, nam palaa.) That one little "a" is all the difference between tasting perhaps a little foreign (nam plaa) and tasting foreign to the degree of being strange, and definitely an acquired taste--- or not acquired! (nam palaa-- fermented fish sauce.)
Nam palaa is perhaps a staple here in Thai Issan country. The main highway going through Khon Kaen, a "hub" city here in northeast Thailand, is well sprinkled, if not soaked, with this smelly liquid, making the road perhaps easy to identify in the dark. Trucks carrying "pips" of the liquid (about a five-gallon can, open on top, with a plastic bag inside holding the contents) regularly travel this highway, and at any significant bump, or at any traffic light where trucks need to slow down or stop, some of that precious cargo spills out, never to be forgotten by the olfactory senses of anyone with even an impaired sense of smell that comes along the road by way of motorcycle, or any vehicle exposed that doesn't insulate passengers from the atmosphere.
Another even more interesting ingredient is the inclusion of boo kem, or boo na. "Boo" is crab, and boo na is a crab (or crabs) from the rice fields. Boo na can be used fresh, and cooked to include in papaya puk puk. Or, the boo na can be pickled in salt (scarcely any brine-- a rather dry pickling process, evidently). This leaves the crab edible, from what I have only SEEN, but also having a smell as equally foreign as nam palaa. The smell I can attest to.
Boo Kem: pickled field crabs
To be continued next time with a somtom recipe for farangs that I think we farangs will like.
Ask Thai people what their favorite foods are, and here in northeast Thailand, you will most likely get one of two answers: somtom, or pat grapow. AND, if it's not very spicy, it is probably mai arroy (not delicious), or arroy nit noi, (not very delicious), or "so-so".
Somtom, or papaya puk puk (raw papaya salad, in English terms), is a very popular dish everywhere in Thailand and in neighboring Laos. They also eat it in neighboring Myanmar. There are many varieties of this dish: somtom Thai and somtom Lao being two distinct and popular varieties.
Somtom sua (somtom with noodles)
Nam palaa is perhaps a staple here in Thai Issan country. The main highway going through Khon Kaen, a "hub" city here in northeast Thailand, is well sprinkled, if not soaked, with this smelly liquid, making the road perhaps easy to identify in the dark. Trucks carrying "pips" of the liquid (about a five-gallon can, open on top, with a plastic bag inside holding the contents) regularly travel this highway, and at any significant bump, or at any traffic light where trucks need to slow down or stop, some of that precious cargo spills out, never to be forgotten by the olfactory senses of anyone with even an impaired sense of smell that comes along the road by way of motorcycle, or any vehicle exposed that doesn't insulate passengers from the atmosphere.
Another even more interesting ingredient is the inclusion of boo kem, or boo na. "Boo" is crab, and boo na is a crab (or crabs) from the rice fields. Boo na can be used fresh, and cooked to include in papaya puk puk. Or, the boo na can be pickled in salt (scarcely any brine-- a rather dry pickling process, evidently). This leaves the crab edible, from what I have only SEEN, but also having a smell as equally foreign as nam palaa. The smell I can attest to.
Boo Na: rice field crabs
Boo Kem: pickled field crabs
There are many variations of somtom, and a somtom shop probably sells other "som", such as som guay, which is made with green bananas, and unripe, and ----- I'll eventually think of the name and fill it in here! and somtang, which is made with cucumbers. While these exotic ingredients may be interesting, and tasty to
the right people, I have my own recipe for somtom farang (farang means
foreigner).
Making puk puk in a large ceramic krok, with wooden saak, and a plastic spoon for mixing. The sound of the saak banging softy against the krok is what gives somtom it's nickname for the Thas, which might be somewhat for the benefit of us farangs: papaya "puk-puk"!
To be continued next time with a somtom recipe for farangs that I think we farangs will like.
