Lately, I've been slightly obsessed with Som Tam, a magnificent salad packing both crunch and flavour.
I didn't have all the right ingredients for the full-blown salad at home, so I set out to experiment with the dressing's punchy flavours. While I've gone a little rogue here, I mean no disrespect to the faithful recipe and all its glory. Luckily, I did have fish sauce at home, which I considered the core ingredient, and made do with everything else I could find.
This is where I landed:
Using my trusty mortar and pestle, I ground and crushed the garlic, chilli flakes, and tomato, forming a paste of sorts. Then added the remaining liquids (fish sauce, honey and lemon) diluting the paste.
Most recipes seem to suggest using peanuts, though my local Thai restaurant uses cashews. Luckily I had cashews at home, so I'm copied my local. Roasted them on pan for a few minutes.
As you can imagine, I didn't just have a green papaya laying around at home, so I experimented with other crunchy veggies. While I won't reveal what the other veggies were (oh man, I've gone way off script), both my other half and I were happy with the results.
Som Tam dressing packs an awesome punch. If your salads were feeling a little boring, give this a try!