Recipe by Helen Graves
www.helengraves.co.uk
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“Som Tam is a classic Thai salad which is usually made with green papaya. I’ve used JAZZ™ Apples which make an excellent and fun variation. They are sweeter than papaya however, so make sure to have lots of extra limes to hand to balance the dressing.”
Ingredients (Serves 1)
3 JAZZ™ Apples
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 snake beans, trimmed into short lengths (or 10 French beans)
3 whole bird’s eye chillies
6 tbsp lime juice, plus more to serve
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp tamarind water
2 tbsp shaved palm sugar
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp peanuts
2 tbsp dried shrimp
Method
Mash the garlic cloves in a pestle and mortar with a small pinch of salt.
Add the dried shrimp to a dry pan and toast for a few minutes, moving around to prevent burning. Add to the pestle and mortar and pound to a rough paste. Add the whole chillies and bruise gently – if you’d like more heat then pound to a paste but take care, they are very hot!
Toast the peanuts in the same pan until golden spots appear then chop roughly and set aside.
Combine lime juice, tamarind water, fish sauce and sugar in a large bowl. Add the garlic, shrimp and chilli paste and stir to combine. Taste and add more fish sauce or lime juice if necessary – the dressing should be hot, sour, salty and sweet.
Roughly bruise the beans with the pestle and add to the dressing bowl with the tomatoes. Peel the apples and cut into thin strips or use a julienne peeler. Add the peanuts, mix well and serve immediately with extra lime wedges.
