Tam Taeng, Thai Pounded Cucumber Salad
Som tam made with green papaya gets the fame, but across the Thai northeast the same pounding technique turns whatever is cheap and crisp into a salad, and in high summer that means cucumber. Tam taeng keeps the mortar, the lime, and the tamarind, but the cucumber needs only a bruise rather than a full pounding, so it stays cool and snapping. Dates replace the block of palm sugar and a little white miso replaces the fermented shrimp, which is enough to make a bowl of cucumber taste like a full dish.
Ingredients
- 2 Cucumbers, peeled in stripes, halved, and cut into thick batons
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3 oz Long beans, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths
- 1/3 cup Peanuts, toasted, roughly crushed
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 2 Thai bird chiles
- 3 tbsp Lime juice, fresh
- 1 tbsp Tamarind paste
- 2 Medjool dates, pitted
- 1 tsp White miso
Method
- In a large mortar, pound the garlic, chile, and dates to a rough paste. The dates carry the palm-sugar sweetness that balances an Isaan tam, but with the fiber still attached.
- Work in the lime juice, tamarind, and miso. The miso stands in for the salted dried shrimp or fish sauce that gives tam taeng its savory floor, so the dressing should taste sour, hot, savory, and faintly sweet all at once.
- Add the long beans and tomatoes and bruise them with the pestle, just a few strokes. This light pounding is what tam means, and it makes the vegetables weep their juice into the dressing instead of sitting dry on top of it.
- Add the cucumber batons and toss, pressing lightly so they crack and soak up the sauce. Cut cucumber this thick so it stays crisp rather than collapsing.
- Fold in the crushed peanuts last so they keep their crunch, and serve right away, before the miso draws water out of the cucumber and thins the dressing.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 120 calories, 5 g protein, 4 g fiber, 180 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
