Lao Green Papaya Salad- Mom’s Tam Mak Hoong Recipe

Watch Instagram reel -here-.

Tam Mak Hoong- This green papaya salad packs it all in- it’s super savory, crunchy, sour, salty, sweet and a little spicy!

It’s also a popular staple food in Lao cuisine and you’ll also see variations of this dish in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

This is my mom’s “Tam mak hoong”, Lao-style green papaya salad!

“Tam” in Laos means to “mash and mix” which is why you’ll always see this Lao favorite made in a mortar and pestle.

This crunchy salad packs in a lot of flavor and is made with shredded green papaya, dried shrimp, tomatoes, and sometimes carrots and beans. It’s pounded with some red chili 🌶️, limes, dried shrimp and seasoned with a pungent fermented shrimp paste.

Now, who wants some?!

Ingredients
2-3 cups shredded green papaya
5 large cloves of garlic
2 fresh Thai chilis, as needed
2 plum tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoon fish sauce or 1 tbs Pla Ra
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
5 dried shrimp (soaked in water)
1 lime, quartered
tamarind concentrate (optional to taste)
Sugar (optional to taste, 1 tsp)

PREPARAION

1. Prepare the papaya: rinse papaya, peel, and shred/julienne.

2. Soak dried shrimp in warm water for 30 min and strain.

3. In a mortar and pestle, add pinch of salt and garlic and mash.

4. Add garlic, and peppers and mash together.

5. Add tomatoes, lime juice with the rinds and mash all together.

6. Add the shrimp paste, fish sauce and crab paste and mix together

7. Add the optional tamarind, sugar and mix.

8. Add papaya and fold/mash into mortar.

9. Mix and smash & serve.