Everything you need to know about som tam -- including where to find it

Among the tom yam goong, pad Thai, green, and yellow and red curries, som tam (papaya salad) sits right up there on the list of top Thai culinary treasures.

The dish, originally from the northeast, has become ubiquitous in Thai restaurants from London to Sydney and is today found in pretty much any Bangkok Thai restaurant (there's even a song dedicated to it). Fragrant, spicy and packing a real kick, som tam is eaten any time of the day.

Variations of som tam

There are numerous variations but the essentials remain the same, as do the principles of preparing the dish. Whether you are after a healthy snack or a refreshing light meal, the main ingredients consist of shredded green papaya, garlic, chillies -- all fresh and "tummed," that is, pounded with a clay or wood pestle and mortar.

Depending on the type of salad, it can be mixed with some preserved crab, peanuts, fresh crab, fresh snake beans, dried shrimps, preserved Gouramy fish and rice noodles. In addition to the standard papaya, cucumbers, green mangoes and snake beans can also be used as the main ingredient, making a different type of som tam salad but with a similar texture.

Just as bread is to butter, a side of sticky rice makes the meal complete, its glutinuous texture a nice contrast to the fresh, sharp flavors. The rice cushions the spiciness of the chilies and strength of the fish sauces.

Marinated charcoal grilled chicken, a side of fresh cabbage and snake beans, or maybe some grilled marinated catfish are also popular accompaniments to a satisfying som tam meal.

The origins of som tam

Thailand's famed papaya salad can also be found in Laos and Cambodia. But M.R. Thanadsri Svasti (former head chef to Their Majesties), the famed Thai food critic and Thai cuisine guru, has noted there are many unknown facts in relation to the invention and revolution of som tam.

Originating in the Isaan area, Thailand's northeast, it was first made as a salad with fresh green papayas due to the abundance of the fruit in the region. The dish was made without any palm sugar as food from Isaan was likened for its strong spicy flavors, not for sweetness, combining preserved crab, preserved fish known as plala, tamarind juice, beans, olives and salt.

It wasn't until it gained popularity and migration to Bangkok that sugar along with other ingredients were added, as many people from Isaan started to enter the capital city for work as tricycle riders, bringing with them their cuisine during the reign of King Rama II (1809-1824).

Over time hundreds of som tam shops opened, while restaurants started to include it on their menus.

Somtumized

Today one such shop that is doing fantastic things with som tam is the cleverly named Somtumized. Located in the conceptually inspired "haunted" shopping mall Mansion 7, this stylish restaurant takes a modern and creative approach to som tam -- it's created according to the diner's blood type.

But regardless of whether you're O positive or negative, all of the dishes adhere to the essential basics. That is they combine the sour, spicy, sweet and saltiness of Isaan cuisine in an explosive way.

Personalize the taste

Since entering the metropolis of Bangkok, som tam has spawned other versions of the salad and almost every Thai is opinionated when it comes to their favorite som tam style. It is often ordered tailored to their own taste buds. 

One may like it sweeter, saltier or more sour, but it is the balancing of these three flavors along with the freshness of the ingredients that packs som tam with its powerful and rather addictive punch.

Suggested som tam restaurants 

Som’s Som Tum, 353/16 Soi Vibhavadee 20, Jatujak, Bangkok 10900. Open Monday to Saturday: 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Prices range from 10-30 baht per dish. 

Sap One, opposite Carrefour on Ratchadapisek Rd, Ratchadapisek 10310. Open daily from 3 p.m. to late. Prices range from 10-40 baht per dish. 

Somtumized, Mansion 7, 244/7 Ratchadapisek Soi 14, Ratchadapisek 10310. Tel. +66 (0)2 275 1489. Open Sunday to Thursday: 11:30 a.m.-midnight, Friday and Saturday: 11:30-2 a.m. Prices: 55-270 baht per dish.

Nittaya Kai Yang, 32/42 Prachacheun, Bangkhen 11000. Tel. +66 (0)2 591 1264-5/913 9886-7, 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Prices: 100–200 baht per dish.