The run-down of the 3 most popular types of Thai salad. This article will give you an overview of the ingredients needed to make the deliciously easy dressings as well as the authentic herbs and garnishes for each salad.
Tum | ตำ
Tum means to pound in Thai, hence the name of this salad category. This type of salad is most prominent in the Northeastern (E-sarn) region of Thailand. More commonly known as ‘som tum’ or described as papaya salad as we know it.
Although, in the local E-sarn dialect, this dish is called ‘tum makhoung’. Unsurprisingly, there is the exact same dish with the exact same name in Laos where the region borders.
Traditionally, the crucial tool to make som tum is the earthenware mortar and a wooden pestle used to pound the ingredients. I’d love to own one of these, but having limited space in a tiny flat in London meant that can’t afford to store it anywhere.
Therefore, here’s a tip! Just use the smaller pestle and mortar to pound the dressing, then toss the green papaya with the dressing in a bowl afterwards. This gives a very similar effect.
Yum | ยำ
This is the easiest category of the 3. Yum means a mash-up of things in Thai. Therefore makes it incredibly easy to create! You can put things together, dress it with a sauce and call it yum!
The herbs and garnishes that generally appear in yum will consist of the use of onions, spring onions, tomatoes and Chinese celery. You can pretty much yum(-mify) anything from deep-fried battered vegetables to chicken feet.
If you’d like to have a go at yummifying, why not try the Yum Woonsen recipe.
Larb | ลาบ
We are making our trip back out northbound where Larb originates. The dish is most commonly eaten in the northern and northeastern regions. At restaurants, you may have already come across either chicken, pork or beef larb. So why not try this delicious Duck Larb recipe for a change.
The notable ingredient of this type of salad is the use of chilli flakes instead of the fresh ones in other recipes as well as the addition of toasted rice powder. Herb-wise, shallots, culantro (aka saw-toothed coriander) as well as mint are essential.
If you are lucky enough to be travelling around Thailand. Then you might come across a larb dish with a distinct bitterness to it. This would be from the addition of the sought-after ingredient – ox bile.
Watch this Thai salad dish in action with our favourite Mark Wiens episode in Chiang Mai.
I hope I have successfully prodded your curiosity gland. Want to know where and how it’s extracted? Then go head over to Netflix Flavourful Origins it has a whole episode dedicated to it. It’s featured in the Yunnan region – Sa Pie episode.
Did you make this recipe? Follow and tag me on @eatwithfish_. I look forward to seeing your creations. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter and email updates for the latest recipes.
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