Thai Papaya Salad | Easy Som Tam Salad Recipes

Vegan Thai Papaya Salad Recipe

100% Whole Food Plant Based.

Thai papaya salad or Som Tam is super easy to prepare, and it only takes few minutes to dazzle your friends with this exotic dish!

Whole Food Plant Based Thai Papaya Salad Recipe

Course: Course 1 (Raw Dishes) & Side Dish for Course 3 (Grain Dishes) at Lunch & Dinner Meals; Breakfast; Snack
Cuisine: Thai Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4 cups

INGREDIENTS

1 Unripe Green Papaya
1/2 Raw Mango
1 cup Moong Sprouts / Bean Sprouts
1 inch piece Fresh Turmeric Root OR 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
4 cloves Garlic
1 Dried Red Chili
Juice of 1 Lemon
4 tsp Miso Paste (Healthy Salt & Soya Sauce Alternative. See Nutrition Science Highlights below)
1 tbsp Date Syrup
1/4 cup Peanuts
2 Spring Onions
1/4 cup Basil Leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Peel unripe green papaya and fresh turmeric root. Grate both using a grater into long, thin strips. Grate raw mango (don't peel) into similar long, thin strip.
2. Peel and chop garlic into small pieces. Break, slice or crush dried red chili into small pieces. Chop spring onion into long, thin pieces. Slice basil leaves into long, thin strips.
3. Dry roast peanuts on a low flame until they are just cooked, but not brown. See why in Nutrition Science Highlights for WFPB Thai Papaya Salad Recipe below.
4. Mix all ingredients together. Garnish with chopped basil leaves. Serve fresh!

Plant Based Chef Pro Tips for Best Thai Papaya Salad

1. To roast peanuts evenly and minimise acrylamide formation (see below), bake in an oven at 120 deg C for 30 minutes or so, keeping an eye on it to see when it is done.
2. Coriander leaves can also be used to garnish this thai salad bowl.
3. Som Tam, Thai Papaya Salad, is traditionally served as a side dish to black sticky rice.

Nutrition Science Highlights for WFPB Thai Papaya Salad Recipe

1. Why nuts instead of oil? Whole foods are healthier than processed foods. When nuts are pressed and oil is extracted, fiber and phytonutrients are lost, along with many other nutrients. Therefore, whole nuts are much healthier than oils, whether cold-pressed or refined.
2. Why not honey, sugar or jaggery? Most Thai Papaya Salads online call for a combination of sugar and honey. Sugar and Jaggery are processed foods. Although jaggery is healthier than brown sugar, which, in turn, is healthier than white sugar, all forms of processed foods are unhealthy when compared to whole plant foods. Honey is healthwise as good as jaggery, which isn't saying much. In addition to not being very healthy, honey production kills millions of bees every year, affecting our environment adversely. The best sweetener alternative is a whole fruit or dry fruit. The easiest method of using these is date syrup, as it does not involve peeling or chopping.
3. Why Miso Paste? Miso paste is fermented & salted soya bean paste. American Heart Association Maximum recommended maximum daily salt intake of 3.75 grams per person to minimise risk of high blood pressure, stomach cancer and chronic kidney disease. In addition to helping us restrict salt intake, replacing salt with miso paste also helps by neutralising the negative effects of salt by soya phytonutrients. You can easily make fresh miso paste at home by mixing 100 grams of cooked soya paste with 10 grams of salt, or 10 tablespoons of cooked soya paste with 1 tablespoon of salt. If making at home, ensure to use immediately, or freeze in batches to use later. Or, simply use 3.75 grams of salt or less per day per person and add 18 to 20 grams (dry weight) of soya beans in any dishes, spread through the day!
4. Why raw dishes at meals? Every meal we consume has an immediate, measurable effect on the antioxidant capacity of our blood. Consuming raw fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices at every meal can help us always have a positive blood antioxidant response to our meals. This is perhaps why every traditional Indian meal began with fruits and salads (kosambari / kosumalli)
5. Why nuts instead of oil? Whole foods are healthier than processed foods. When nuts are pressed and oil is extracted, fiber and phytonutrients are lost, along with many other nutrients. Therefore, whole nuts are much healthier than oils, whether cold-pressed or refined. In addition, they provide the oil content we need to absorb fat-soluble phytonutrients from other whole plant foods! This may be why nuts are used to garnish nearly every traditional Indian dish!