Pook and her friends love this dish. Does anyone (Thai) know of a good receipe the I can impress her with (brownie points are good !)

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Does anyone (Thai) know of a good receipe

I have a good recipe but since I'm not Thai I will keep it to myself

OOh ! What a meanie ! I'm going to have to explain myself: as a vegetarian the stuff smells totally foul to me (I think its the fermented fish bollovks or something) and I can't taste it. I also can't believe that any farang in their right mind would want to eat it either. So I assumed that only a Thai palette would be able to discern a good recipe from a bad one.So Mr Guava, ru going to fess up or not ?

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(I think its the fermented fish bollovks or something)

John,

There is something similar going on right now in our house which smells rancid and apparantly includes crabs so time to go outside methinks
colin 244

Thats the one Colin - quick go grab the recipe !

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Thats the one Colin - quick go grab the recipe !

Why do you like it? but if you really want to know I will ask the ladies involved :-

1 x Dao
1 x Nok
1 x Nang

= something that is making me gag but they are on the patio in fur coats eating it

Will find out later as Jack Daniels is also involved (again)
colin 244

Update John,

Now its snowing and they have come inside but Nang (the chief cook) says she will give me the recipe for my friend in the west! (lucky you)
Regards
colin 244

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So Mr Guava, ru going to fess up or not ?

Papaya Salad or Som Tam (ส้มตำ)

The smelly fermented fish bollovks will be Pla Ra (ปลาร้า) fermented fish sauce, popular in the North East of Thailand. Made by combining fish, salt, and roasted rice, left fermenting in a pot for a few months. The dish also traditionally contains Poo Kem (ปูเค็ม) salted field crabs.

As eaten in Laos and Isaan, the dish is quite spicy and sour. The Central Thai or Bangkok version tends to be a bit milder and sweeter, and often contains crushed peanuts and dried shrimp but less likely to have Pla Ra or Poo Kem. Some Thai people in the west add carrot as well as green papaya and this sweetens the dish as well as padding out the papaya which tends to be very expensive here in UK.

This recipe is for the Central Thai style or “Som Tam Thai” as this is how I like to eat it (with sticky rice and BBQ chicken yummy)

Make 1 serving
1 clove garlic, peeled
4 prik kee noo chillies (this makes it fairly spicy add more or less according to how hot you wish it to be)
a handful of long snake beans cut into pieces (you could substitute French beans if you cant get the snake variety)
1/2 oz dried shrimps
2tbsp palm sugar
3tbsp fish sauce
3tbsp lemon juice
2oz cherry tomatoes, halved
1oz roasted peanuts
1 unripe green papaya, peeled and grated into long, thin strips
In a mortar, roughly pound the garlic and chillies. Add the beans and pound,
then the shrimps and pound again until crushed.

Add the sugar, fish sauce and lemon juice and stir together. Add the tomatoes
and press with the pestle.

Add the peanuts and the papaya and stir until well mixed in.
Keep tasting all time and add more fish sauce if it needs more salty, more lemon juice if too sweet, or more sugar if too sour.

Thanks Guava. That's a nice comprehensive recipe. I've seen a couple of different unripe papayas - 1 long and thin, and the other almost marrow-like. What's the consensus on taste ?
Thank you Colin - I'll look forward to your post on the recipe- Why ? - brownie points as I said.

Hi John

Just make sure the papaya (or "malagor" (มะละกอ) in Thai) is a deep green colour and feels firm to the touch. To be honest they seem to me like any fruit, you can never really tell the quality until you taste it.

They are bl**dy expensive though so maybe try a small one for your first attempt. I have found that asian food shops (Indian) tend to be a little cheaper than Chinese or Thai supermarkets. Another trick is to substitute raw swede for the papaya - really - it is remarkably good substitute!

Good luck, please let us know how you get on.

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They are bl**dy expensive though so maybe try a small one for your first attempt.

About £3 each in Hoo Hing and the like.

Mol likes to make it with cucumber sometimes.

Thats a good price Keith, in Manchester Chinatown you would only get a very small one for that

We were in China Town for lunch yesterday, Kim's Thai Shop were charging £7.95 per kilo. That shop is becoming very expensive, we'll be looking elsewhere in future and just going there to pick up what we couldn't get elsewhere.

We average £5.00 in Hoo Hing Chadwell Heath yes expesive and the local Thai ladies use carrot as well
colin 244

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Thank you Colin - I'll look forward to your post on the recipe-

I'm waiting for the JD to finish but it appears Guava's receipe is not far out
colin 244

Guava is quite right. If you can't get decent papaya,use swede. I've also had it made with carrot and cooking apple,but I think the swede is the best substitute.

long time ago i was bought papaya in Tesco ( not Thai papaya ) the taste wasn't right. I can't eat it and have to trow it away.
Make sure papaya is come from Thailand, not Indian papaya, they are completely difference teats.

no doubt my wife is following this post with interest.... she loves her papaya bok bok. i remember her trying to kill me with it once

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wife is following this post with interest

So is mine ! She's laughing because she doesn't believe anyone on the planet can make a better bok bok than her - as all her friends ask her to make it for them. I suggest a competition at some point.
Me ? - I'll sit back and watch the fireworks.

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the JD

won and mixed with the crabs/papaya etc the 3 of them took turns in the hong nam

A very entertaining afternoon but they were back on it the next day (the bok bok not JD )

I am reliably informed by one of the husbands of the others that it is addictive and they can't stop eating it
colin 244

John,

Guava was bang on except our lot used peanut butter and more chilli's/Lemons but the crabs are better they say Good luck if your "cooking" as they call the preparation of this delight here (me, I had a pizza which they thought weird as I had Pineapple & Ham together )
colin 244

Sounds like you're having a ball there Colin. Good on you ! By the way, Pook sometimes used pickled mudfish in her PBB -

Well people - I had my first go at PBB - a qualified success only I think. I forgot the shrimps and chopped up some cockles instead - that was fine - may have got brownie points for innovation ! But I'm not sure if I misread Guava's recipe - I got into trouble when I pounded the green beans. I was told that this is wrong, and that I should have cut them up like the papaya
By the way, it's a real pain cutting up the papaya the Thai way - cutting it all over with a knife abd then slicing it off so it looks like shreddded cabbage. What's the easiest way ?

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By the way, it's a real pain cutting up the papaya the Thai way - cutting it all over with a knife abd then slicing it off so it looks like shreddded cabbage. What's the easiest way ?

Order one of these.

Papaya Shredder