This is another of the many somtams of Thailand which is believed to have originated in Laos. Most western people think of the somtam as being a green papaya salad but this is really only a type. Somtam refers to the style of preparation and to the dressing used for the salads. So Tampolamai is a specific somtam and truly a fruit salad with a difference. There is no added oil but it has elements of savoury, sweet , sour and spicy.
The edges between desert fruits and savoury fruits are quite blurred in Asia compared to western conventions. Both have the right idea and neither are wrong.
Ingredients:
Firm fruits- Green papaya; julienned
- Jack fruit: segments (pitted)
- Lychees(pitted)
- Rambutans(pitted)
- Just ripened Honey tomatoes or some other cherry style tomato
Soft fruits: - tangerines,
- Grapes,
- Mango
- Mangosteens (pitted)
Basically any fruits available may be used in this salad
Other fruits:- Bird's eye chillies (1 or 2)
Other ingredients;- Palm Sugar
- Lime juice (of one or two small fruit)
- Fish sauce
Method:
- Pound the chillie(s) in an earthenware mortar and a wooden pestle with a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime juice
- Add some green papaya julienned and pound this to bruise it.
- Add a teaspoon of fish sauce. Add halved miniature tomatoes. Pound a few seconds more turning the contents with a spoon.
- Tip the contents into a larger bowl and add a tablespoon of sugar and mix.
- Add the other fruits and a teaspoon (max) of white vinegar.
- Mix and taste.
- Make adjustments with Juice/sugar/fish sauce to your own liking.
