Thai Woman Portrait With Green Papaya Salad Or Somtum Stock Image

Thai woman portrait with Green papaya salad or somtum at Bangnamphung Floating Market in Samudprakarn Thailand. The dish combines the five main tastes of the local cuisine: sour lime, hot chili, salty, savory fish sauce, and sweetness added by palm sugar. The ingredients are mixed and pounded in a mortar; The general Lao name tam som literally means pounded sour, however, the more specific Lao name tam maak hoong literally means pounded papaya. In Khmer, the name bok l'hong also means pounded papaya. In Thai, the name som tam, (a reversal of the Lao name), literally translates as sour pounded. However, other pounded salads in Thailand are consistent with the Lao naming convention in which the word tam (pounded) is listed first. Despite the use of papaya, which one may think of as sweet, this salad is actually savory. When not yet ripe, papaya has a slightly tangy flavor. The texture is crisp and firm, sometimes to the point of crunchiness. It is this that allows the fruit to withstand being beaten in the mortar.