Yam Thua Fak Yao, Thai Long Bean Salad
Yam is the Thai word for a pounded, tossed salad, and it is built to taste loud without any salt at all. Sourness from lime and tamarind, heat from bird chile, and a whisper of sweetness from date do the seasoning that a Western salad would reach for salt and oil to accomplish. Long beans stand in for the more common wing beans or snake beans; blanch them briefly so they bend without going limp. Serve it cold alongside brown rice or a simple tofu dish.
Ingredients
- 8 oz Long beans, cut into 1.5-inch (4 cm) lengths
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 Thai bird chiles, minced, seeds in for full heat
- 3 tbsp Lime juice, fresh
- 1 tsp Tamarind paste
- 1 tsp Low-sodium tamari
- 1 Medjool date, pitted and mashed to a paste
- 3 tbsp Peanuts, toasted, coarsely crushed
- 3 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
- 2 tbsp Mint, torn
Method
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Drop in the long beans and cook just 2 minutes, until they turn bright green and lose their raw squeak but stay crisp. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking, then pat dry so the dressing clings instead of sliding off.
- In a mortar, or a sturdy bowl with the end of a rolling pin, bruise the garlic and chile into a rough paste. Pounding, rather than chopping, is what releases the oils that carry the heat through the whole salad.
- Add the date paste, tamarind, tamari, and lime juice to the mortar. Stir until the date dissolves. This is the palm-sugar note without the sugar: the date brings sweetness with its fiber attached, so it rounds the sour and heat instead of just adding sugar on top.
- Add the long beans, tomatoes, and shallots. Toss and bruise lightly against the sides of the bowl so the tomatoes weep their juice into the dressing and the shallots soften. This gentle pounding is the whole technique behind a Thai yam.
- Fold in the cilantro, mint, and most of the peanuts. Taste, and add lime a squeeze at a time until it tastes sharp and bright rather than flat. Scatter the last peanuts over the top and serve within the hour, while the beans still have snap.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 125 calories, 5 g protein, 6 g fiber, 75 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.
