In your “Kroke” (Thai Clay Pestle), smash some garlic, and fresh chili. Add a pinch of salt so that it will help granulate and bring out more flavor. If you dont have a kroke or pestle, you can always mince the garlic and chili and do this in a mixing bowl. Careful of touching and transporting the chili, oils will get embedded in your fingers.

Add your Lime juice from fresh limes, avoid using bottled stuff because you wont get the freshness which is needed. The lime juice will also activate and cure the raw garlic, making it less intense.

Add Palm Sugar. You can melt the palm sugar in hot water or just crush it in the pestle.

Pro tip: From the fresh lime, you can shave a sliver from a slice to add later.

Add Fish Sauce. At this point you want to make sure your flavors are what you want to eat / serve. You may want to consider a bit more salty, since adding the fresh papaya will mellow the flavor a bit.

If you did not have time to soak the dried shrimp, add it now to allow it to soften.

Tamarin will add another level of sweet / sour element. Not needed but traditionally has been used.

At this point, you should have this liquid mixture ready for your raw papaya. Do a taste test, make sure everything is to your liking, but dont worry if you miss something, you can always add it later.

Now comes the “Thum” part. The sound it makes is usually expressed by “Pok! Pok! Pok!”

Its also easier to have a long spoon or fork so that you can reach the bottom of the pestles to move the juices to the top, while mixing the papaya in the juice.

Pro Tip: Its not a matter of mixing. You need to lightly smash the papaya so that as the old juices come out, the new juice mixture you made will get absorbed in.

You can add these before or after you “Tham” the papaya

I like to add the Tomato after I, “Thum” all the harder ingredients. This is because I don’t want to smash the tomatoes, preserving their texture. I would just mix these in, but up to you.

You should have a good mix of salad now, find a since serving plate, cut up some greens like lettuce or cabbage and serve on the side.

Pro Tip: Dont ditch the juice! include in the dish, as many people use sticky rice to soak up the juices and eat.

If you are not allergic, you can add crushed peanuts on top before serving.