Tam Apple
Serves 2 Cooks in 30 minutes Difficulty EASY
My Apple Salad is inspired by the famous Thai Papaya Salad otherwise known as Som Tam. Som Tam is loved by many because of it’s spicy and sour taste. The main ingredient is papaya though it is becoming more popular in Thailand to make this dish with other ingredients.
So choosing a fruit, for me at least, was easy. Apple! Though I did want to choose a fruit that’s also easy to buy throughout the world as papaya is not always readily available in colder lands.
Everything else in this recipe should be easy to source. I used snake beans as we call them here but you could use any green bean that’s available in your country.
This is a Thai style salad so the result will be spicy and sour, yet tangy and sweet. Thai salads are an explosion of flavours all at the same time.
I would suggest using a wooden pestle and mortar and when smashing the ingredients. Remember we are not smashing everything into a paste. We just want to break up the ingredients to let their flavours out and mix freely.
I served my salad with grilled chicken but you could use your preferred meat or alternative. The salad is so tasty you could even serve without anything on the side or you could add the dish to a larger Thai style meal.
This is what you will need for Tam Apple…
Ingredients
- 1 chicken breast
- 3 apples, different colours
- 3 tbsp peanuts
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 limes
- 2-3 red chilli
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 snake beans
- Handful of cashew nuts
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Rub the chicken breast with a little salt and pepper and place in an oven, pre-heated to 180˚C for 30 minutes, turning once after 15 minutes.
- Smash the garlic and chilli in a pestle and mortar to form a rough paste.
- Chop the snake beans into 1-2cm long pieces and add to the mortar.
- Then add 2 tbsp peanuts and smash a little more.
- Add the palm sugar, fish sauce and juice from the lime and mix well.
- Take half of each colour apple and chop into rough chunks. Add to the mortar and mix well.
To Serve
Serve in low, wide bowl and top with a handful of cashew nuts. Slice the grilled chicken and place around the salad or on top with the cashew nuts.
Hope you enjoy my Yum Apple by Apple 🍎 Riverside Thai Cooking in Khao Lak.