Deep Fried Papaya Salad (Som Tum)

Since I've had my deep fried papaya salad at Bangkok airport, I really can't forget it, so I decided to make it myself. Fortunately the time I wanted to make it on my own and after searching for some recipes on the internet, there was a Thai product exhibition at Jakarta Convention Center (JCC). Went there with my mom, and we just bought lots of Thai sauces.

Back to the papaya salad, this was the recipe I used and I'm very very satisfied, due to not knowing how they make the deep fried papaya as one big piece as the papaya salad I had in bangkok, I have to improvise a bit as the papaya I deep fried is being one by one string I only deep fried half of the papaya and the other half is raw.

Deep Fried Papaya Salad (Som Tum)


1 whole green papaya - 1 buah pepaya hijau
2 cloves garlic - 2 siung bawang putih
5 handful fried peanuts - 5 genggam kacang tanah goreng
3 tablespoon dried little shrimps - fried - 3 sendok makan ebi digoreng
2 limes (we only use the juice) - 2 jeruk nipis, ambil airnya
4 tablespoon water of compressed tamarind : (disolve 1 teaspoon of compressed tamarind with 6 spoon of warm water) - 4 sendok makan air asam jawa
2 tablespoon palm sugar - 1/2 potong gula jawa, parut
1 tomato, sliced - 1 tomat
2 string beans, cut into 4cm length - 2 kacang panjang, potong sepanjang 4 cm
4 chilies - 4 cabai keritingfish sauce

How to make :

1. shred the green papaya in medium size, deep fry half of the papaya, just leave behind the other half
Parut pepaya ukuran sedang, goreng 1/2 dari pepaya tersebut dan sisakan 1/2-nya
2. Using a mortar, hit the garlics, add the dired shrimps, chilies and peanuts, make sure it doesn't become a paste but in small chunks (except for the garlics).
geprek bawang putih pakai ulekan atau alu, tambahkan ebi dan kacang tanah yang sudah dgoreng pukul2 atau ulek tapi hanya sampai jadi kasar, jangan terlalu halus
3. Add palm sugar, tomato, hit it lightly just till the tomato juice comes out, then add the tamarind water and lime juice.
Tambahkan gula jawa, tomat, puku2 lagi sampai tomat keluar airnya saja, kemudian tambahkan air asam jawa dan air leruk nipis
4. Add the string beans and pound it to the other ingredients
Masukkan kacang panjang dan tumbuk lagi bersama bahan2 lainnya tadi hingga layu
5. After it all comes together (but make sure it doesn't become a paste) add the raw papaya and just mix it well with the dressing, add some fish sauce on it and mix it well, then sprinkle some of the deep fried papaya on top of it.
Setelah bumbu campurannya telah jadi, masukkan pepaya mentah ke dalam campuran tersebut hingga rata, tambahkan fish sauce secukupnya dan taburi pepaya yang telah digoreng diatasnya. Siap dihidangkan :)

I'm just in love with the sweet & sour plus a bit taste of hot :)... it became one of my masterpiece recipe, hope you enjoy it :D