Tam mak hoong is a spicy traditional Laotian salad

Salad

Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...

 made from shredded unripened papaya

Papaya

The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...

. Tam mak hoong is often served with sticky rice (Lao: ເຂົ້າໜຽວ [kʰaːw nio]) and ping gai (Lao: ປິງໄກ່) (gai yang in Thailand). Raw vegetables, pork rinds, and rice noodles

Rice noodles

Rice noodles are noodles that are made from rice. Their principal ingredients are rice flour and water. However, sometimes other ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are also added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and chewy texture of the noodles.Rice noodles...

 are also sometimes used.

Tam mak hoong (ຕໍາຫມາກຫຸ່ງ) literally means 'pounded papaya', where tam means 'pounded' and mak hoong is the word for 'papaya'.

Ingredients

Tam mak hoong is made according to the customer's tastes, which involves balancing several of the tastes of Laotian cuisine such as sour, spicy, salty, and sweet. Tam mak hoong will typically contain some or all of the following items:

• Chili
  Chili pepper
  Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
  
   (Lao: ພິກ [pʰik])
• Garlic
  Garlic
  Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
  
   (Lao: ພະກເທິຍມ [paktʰiːam])
• Sugar (sometimes also palm sugar
  Palm sugar
  Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm, the date palm or sugar date palm . Now it is also made from the sap of the sago, arenga pinnata and coconut palms, and may be sold as "arenga sugar" or "coconut sugar".-Description:It is quickly gaining popularity in the...
  
  )
• Padaek
  Padaek
  Padaek, sometimes Padek, Lao bagoong, is a traditional Laotian condiment made from pickled or fermented fish that has been cured. Often known as Laotian fish sauce, it is a thicker, seasoned fish sauce that often contains chunks of fish in it...
  
   (Lao: ປາແດກ [paːdɛːk])
• Fish sauce (Lao: ນ້ຳປາ [nam paː])
• Shrimp paste (Lao: ກະປີ [ɡaʔpiː])
• Brined crabs (Lao: ປູດອງ [pudɔŋ])
• Lime (Lao: ໝາກນາວ [maːknaːw])
• Hog Plums (่Lao: ໝາກກອກ [maːkɡɔːk])
• Tomatoes (Lao: ໝາກເລ່ນ [maːk leːn])
• Yardlong bean
  Yardlong bean
  Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis, the yardlong bean, is also known as bora, the long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, snake bean, or Chinese long bean...
  
  s (Lao: ໝາກຖ່ັວ [maːktʰua])

External links

• Papaya Salad recipes from laocuisine.la