A vegan version (without the fish sauce and shrimp) that is 100% as good as a traditional Som Tum!

OOkay so I am going to admit I am pretty pleased with myself when it comes to this recipe. It has taken a few tries to get right but I got there! Trying to make such a simple salad without the key ingredients of fish sauce and dried shrimp was challenging. Fish sauce can be a difficult beast when it comes to vegan and vegetarian cooking. It seriously seems to be in EVERY SINGLE Asian sauce, stock and curry paste, meaning many store bought options are a no go. I know a number of vegetarians who feign ignorance when it comes to fish sauce and choose to pretend their tofu curry from their local Thai takeaway is vegetarian (no judgement!).

If you are vegan or vego, you probably understand this problem very well. You may have asked yourself why. Why does fish sauce need to be in everything? Well the answer is unfortunately that it really adds that missing something. I once read a chef saying that if your recipe doesn't taste right, just add fish sauce. And it's kind of true. Fish sauce brings everything together with it's salty savouriness that is hard to replicate. Which is kind of funny, because to be honest, the idea of fish sauce sounds kind of gross. And by itself it is! But a little dash here and there goes a long way.

My approach over the years is to try and replace the fish sauce with a little bit of lime juice and soy. But it was never the same. I found this to be especially true when making Nuoc Cham – the Vietnamese chilli sauce that you see everywhere. It just ends up tasting watery and insipid without fish sauce. So I kinda gave up making a good vegan Nuoc Cham and moved on to the next recipe.

I was passing through the markets recently and saw a green papaya and was inspired to try and create a vegan Som Tum. The dressing used for Som Tum is very similar to Nuoc Cham – chilli, lime, fish sauce and sugar. I have become aware that vegan “fish” sauces exist these days so I was excited to get experimenting!

I won't bore you with any more details on how I ended up developing the dressing for this recipe, but to tell you the end result was an adaptation of my chilli jam recipe. This differs from the traditional style of dressing for Som Tum where the ingredients remain raw. By cooking the sauce I was able to reduce it and make it all nice and thick and sticky. This way the sauce sticks the papaya better and means you don't end up with an overly soggy salad. Oh, and did I mention it tastes really really good? I don't think even die hard fish sauce lovers could tell you this recipe is vegan!

Vegan Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum)

Serves: 2 as a side salad

Dietary guide: This recipe is vegan and gluten free (make sure your “fish sauce is GF”) or omit the “fish” sauce. Monash’s University FODMAP diet does not cover green papaya, only ripe papaya (which is safe in amounts up to 140g) so I can not guarantee green papaya is safe for those on a FODMAP diet. If you know you tolerate green papaya and want to make this salad, replace the shallots with green spring onion and the garlic in the chilli sauce with 2 teaspoon of garlic infused olive oil. If using “fish” sauce make sure it’s FODMAP friendly.

Ingredients

100g of green papaya (ideally chilled in the fridge)

2 tablespoons of chilli sauce (see recipe below)*

1 teaspoon of lime juice and

1 teaspoon of vegan “fish” sauce (I used Fysh by Nuilife)

8 green beans ends removed and cut in half

¼ cup of roasted salted peanuts

8 cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 small golden shallot peeled and thinly sliced into rings

1 handful of coriander leaves (about ½ a cup)

¼ cup of mixed herbs such as Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, regular mint, garlic chives

1 long red chilli thinly sliced

Lime wedge to serve

*The chilli sauce recipe will make more than you need for this recipe, but it’s so good you’ll find lots of other ways to use it!

Instructions

Peel the green papaya and shred into fine shards using either a sharp knife, a julienne peeler or an Asian grater. Place in a mixing bowl along with the chilli sauce, “fish'' sauce and lime juice. Toss well to combine.
In a mortar and pestle (or a chopping board and a rolling pin) gently bash the green beans. Add to the mixing bowl with the papaya. Wipe the mortar and pestle down if needed and roughly crush the peanuts. Add ¾ of the nuts to the mixing bowl.
Add the tomatoes, chilli, shallot and herbs.to the mixing bowl – reserve a little of the herbs for garnish if desired. Mix gently with your hands. Taste and adjust for seasoning and sauce – add more if needed.
Transfer to a plate or bowl and top with the reserved peanuts and any herbs you reserved for garnish. Serve immediately with a slice of lime on the side. Best eaten within 15 minutes of serving.

Homemade Chilli Sauce

5 long red chillies (de-seeded if you want it milder) roughly chopped

2 large ripe tomatoes (about 220g)

1 teaspoon of crushed garlic

1 teaspoon of finely grated ginger

2 teaspoons of white wine or apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of coriander stalk and root roughly chopped

A good pinch of salt

Instructions: Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the tomatoes for 10 seconds in the hot water, drain and transfer the tomatoes to a bowl of cold water. Peel the tomatoes – the blanching process should make the skin easy to peel off. (You can skip this step if you don't mind tomato skin in your chilli jam). Place the peeled tomatoes, chilli, coriander root and stalk, garlic and ginger back into the small saucepan. Add the sugar, vinegar, salt and ¼ cup of water. Using a bar mix, whizz until very finely chopped (add a little more water if needed to make the mix easier to whizz). Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until most of the moisture has evaporated and the sauce has a jam-like consistency. Set aside to cool. Store in the fridge.