Baan

1 tbsp dried fried whitebait/anchovies/Bombay duck or 4–6 dried baby squid (optional)

In a large bowl, mix together the nam pla, lime juice and palm sugar until combined and the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the tamarind, if using. Gently mix through the rest of the ingredients and serve straight away, garnished with the coriander.

Yum Hua Plee

Take the coarse outer leaves off the banana blossom and save the best looking ones for presentation. Then, slice the rest of the blossom and soak it in acidulated water to stop it discolouring.

Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a wok or frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and sauté the pork and prawns until cooked, about 1–2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a non-reactive bowl, mix together the coconut cream and milk, palm sugar, nam pla, nam prik pao and lime juice to make a dressing. Add the cooked pork and prawns and mix them through the dressing gently. Then, add the shallots, lemongrass and red chilli, and mix gently.

Drain the sliced banana blossom, pat dry with paper towels, and stir through the rest of the mixture. Pile the mixture into the outer blossom leaves, scatter with the cashews, deep-fried shallots, mint and coriander, and serve.

Yum Haew

Yum Tua Plu

Heat a griddle (grill pan) until hot. Rub the pork steak on both sides with a little vegetable oil, season with salt and cook on both sides until it is cooked through. Set aside to rest.

Thread the prawns on to the soaked satay sticks/skewers, rub them with vegetable oil, and griddle (grill) them until they’re just done. Set aside to cool.

In a small pan, heat a 2.5-cm/1-inch depth of oil until very hot, then deep-fry the dried prawns until golden brown. Set aside to drain on paper towels. When they are cold, grind them up in a pestle and mortar until they are almost completely powdered. Then add the peanuts and grind them coarsely.

Now make the dressing, whisking all its ingredients together in a small bowl until thick and well combined. Taste it for balance – it should be rich, salty, sour and sweet. Then stir in 1 tbsp of the toasted coconut.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the sliced winged beans for about 30 seconds, then refresh them in iced water to stop them cooking. Drain, dry with paper towels and place them in a large mixing bowl.

Thinly slice the pork steak and add it to the winged beans. Cut the cooked prawns in half lengthways, and add them too. Finally, add the dried prawn and peanut mixture and the dressing, and bring the salad gently together with your hands.

Turn it out on to a serving plate, drizzle with the coconut cream, sprinking with the remaining toasted coconut, and serve.

Soop Nor Mai

Yum Kratiem

Laarp Isaan

Laarp Kua

Ruan Urai’s Raw Tuna Laarp

In a non-reactive bowl, mix together all the ingredients apart from the tuna until evenly combined. Then add the fish, and work it through the mixture. Turn out on to a serving plate, and garnish with fresh mint leaves and fried dried chillies.

Let’s cut to the chase: I could have called this chapter ‘salads’. And all of them are, after a fashion. But it’s probably best to paraphrase Bones from Star Trek and say: ‘They’re salads, Jim, but not as we know ’em.’

On Yums, Laarp and Tums

Of the three, yums are probably the most diverse. You can make a yum out of almost anything. Some are fiery, some are delicate; some are simple, some are complex. Of the ones in this book, which are among my favourites, I particularly point out the Yum Kratiem (Garlic Salad, see here). Its name translates as a garlic salad; in fact it is a medley of seafood, garlic, cashews and spice in which squid is deep-fried at a low temperature for much longer than you’d expect until it’s crisp and almost dried – a texture Thais adore.

Laarp can also be referred to as a salad by virtue of its being served frequently alongside lettuce leaves. I include three variants here, and there are many more, which can be found across the north and northeast. In Laos, they make one with raw buffalo meat seasoned with a little of its bile. Since those ingredients are hard to find, I have not included it here. But trust me when I tell you: it’s delicious.

Som Tum Thai (Green Papaya Salad, see here) is probably the most famous of all the tums, adored across Thailand and beyond. But it is by no means the only pounded salad. There are many, including one made with sliced raw green banana, which is… interesting. The Thais have a word, faadt, which describes that puckering, almost mouth-drying feeling you experience when drinking very tannic wine. This is the most faadt thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. So I’ve chosen to leave it out. But I have included other tums here, if only because the green papaya required to make som tum is an expensive ingredient, which is why you frequently find som tums cut with grated carrot. Not traditional, but a way to get by.

Som Tum Thai

Green Papaya Salad

Although a northeastern Thai dish, som tum is now ubiquitous across Thailand. Small wonder – it’s fresh, feisty and delicious. There is also no definitive recipe. Each vendor brings their own touch and adapts it to each customer, often asking if you want it hot, spicy, sweet or sour. That said, this is adapted from a verbal recipe given to me by Khun Nok who works with her husband at their grilled chicken stall in Chiang Dao.

You will need a large pestle and mortar to make this. If it’s made of wood, so much the better.

Photographed with sweetcorn on here, top right.

Serves 2–4

1 tbsp dried prawns (shrimp)

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2–6 Thai bird’s eye chillies, roughly sliced (depends how hot you like it)

1 tbsp unsalted roasted peanuts, plus extra to garnish

a good handful of grated green papaya, about 120 g/4 oz

2–3 green beans, roughly sliced

1–2 medium tomatoes, quartered, or 4–5 whole cherry tomatoes

for the dressing

1 tbsp nam pla (fish sauce)

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp palm sugar syrup (see tip) or 1 tsp caster (superfine) sugar

First, mix the dressing ingredients together, and taste for balance. If you want it sharper, add more lime; sweeter, more sugar; saltier, more nam pla. Set aside.

In a dry pan, fry the dried shrimp over moderate heat until they are just crisp. Set aside on paper towels.

In your pestle and mortar, pound the garlic and chillies just enough to break them up. Then add the peanuts and dried shrimp and pound until the nuts are loosely broken. Now add the papaya. Using the pestle and a spoon, pound and lift the papaya, mixing the other ingredients through it. Add the beans and tomatoes, and pound and mix until well incorporated. Add the dressing, and pound and mix again. The process should take no more than 5 minutes.

Turn the salad out on to a plate, garnish with the remaining peanuts, and serve.

~ To make palm sugar syrup, dissolve 4 tbsp of palm sugar in 4 tbsp of water over a low heat. Do not let it boil. Then set aside to cool. Strain it through muslin (cheesecloth) to remove impurities, and store it in a sterilized jar until you need it. ~

Som Tum Kowpot

Sweetcorn and Papaya Salad

You’ll often find this variant made at the height of sweetcorn season. Grill a de-husked ear of sweetcorn on the barbecue (outdoor grill) or a griddle (grill) pan, turning often to make sure it cooks evenly, about 15 minutes. Cut the sweetcorn from the cob with a sharp knife. Then make the som tum as above, removing about 80 g/2¾ oz of the papaya from the recipe, and replacing it with the same amount of sweetcorn.

Tum Tua Yao

Pounded Long Bean Salad

Traditionally, this is made with long beans, which you can often find in Asian supermarkets. But green beans or runner (string) beans make a very good substitute, and most people would be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

The real key to this dish is not so much the beans as the pla ra, a thicker, more pungent variant of fish sauce from Isaan that is made of freshwater fish fermented with rice. My local Thai supermarket has a sign on its shelf saying ‘this is not your regular fish sauce’. They’re right: it’s funkier, particular, and key to the broader range of Isaan’s pounded salads.

Photographed with cucumber on here, bottom right.

Serves 2–4

4 Thai bird’s eye chillies

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 tsp caster (superfine) or palm sugar

½ tsp kapi (shrimp paste)

300 g/10½ oz long beans, trimmed and cut into 5-cm/2-inch pieces

6 cherry tomatoes

juice of 1 lime

1½ tsp nam pla (fish sauce)

1 tbsp pla ra (Isaan fermented fish sauce)

In a large pestle and mortar, pound the chillies, garlic, sugar and kapi loosely. Add the beans and pound gently, turning with a spoon so they are all bruised slightly. Add the tomatoes and pound again, gently. Add the lime juice, nam pla and pla ra. Pound and stir to make sure everything is well amalgamated. Turn on to a plate and serve.

Tum Tang Kwa

Pounded Cucumber Salad

This was Mum’s favourite thing to order when the Tum Man came down our soi. It is almost identical to the tum tua yao, above. To make it, replace the green beans with the same amount of cucumber, quartered lengthways, then cut into 0.75-cm/¼-inch slices. Give the cucumber a good pounding before adding the tomatoes which, in this case, I like to halve.

You may also like to add 2 tbsp dried prawns (goong haeng), pounding them into the salad at the same time as the chilli and garlic. In this case, pound the solid ingredients first, then add the kapi and palm sugar second. As an extra treat, you can also serve it with a peeled and quartered salted egg on the top. The combination of textures is very satisfying.

Tum Mamuang

Pounded Green Mango Salad

Again, this has almost exactly the same dressing. Simply replace the green beans with a good handful of grated green mango. Make the salad in exactly the same way. Serve with the Moo Waan (Sweet Pork, see here), if you like. What a flavour bomb!

Basic Yum

Beef or Seafood Salad

Yum Mamuang Nai Muang

Green Mango Salad from Old Chiang Mai