As an accessory, it is best to use an original Som Tam - pock pock (high earthen pestle with wooden pestle - is used in Thailand especially for making this salad) Peel the papaya with a peeler, cut it in half crosswise and then lengthways. It is best to remove the seeds with a teaspoon and scrape out the whites. Rinse the papaya briefly and pat dry. Finely slice the pulp lengthways on a raw vegetable grater. Peel and roughly chop the garlic. Core and chop the chillies. First pound the garlic and chillies well in the pock pock. Then roughly crush the peanuts and dried shrimp. Now gently crush the grated papaya in pock pock in small portions, turning over and over with a spoon. Now lightly press the eighthed cocktail tomatoes with the pestle. Mix the crushed papaya and tomatoes with the other ingredients. Finally add the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice, mix everything together well. Incidentally, it is good for the salad if it can sit through for half an hour. Notes: Tom Sam (whether Lao or Thai) uses green, unripe papaya. You can only get these in Asian stores. They are smaller and, in contrast to the mature ones, have a firm white flesh and white seeds. Som Tam Thai is a `fishy` milder variant of the classic Som Tam Lao, as it uses dried prawns. Som Tam Lao, on the other hand, is made with pla raa, which is salted fermented fish. Pla raa stinks if you hold your nose to it, but tastes wonderful in the right proportion in Som Tam and only gives off an aftertaste that makes the salad delicious.
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