Yum mamuang is a tangy and barely candy Thai salad produced from unripe mangoes, peanuts, and lime juice. Serve it with some rice for a lightweight meal or as a complement to a heavier meal.

Traditional Thai meals

When fascinated by Thai delicacies, some “traditional” dishes typically come to thoughts. Together with stir-fried dishes like pad thai, and Thai-style coconut milk curries like massaman, there’s one distinctive dish that stands out from the remaining – the fantastic Som Tam, a.okay.a Papaya Salad.

Som tam is beloved by foreigners and Thais alike.

Unripe crunchy papaya, barely candy and tangy, pounded with chilies, peanuts, and different various components. Then it’s wearing lime juice, fish sauce, and palm sugar.

What’s there to not like?

Nonetheless, som tam will not be one among a form. Along with many different comparable dishes from Northeastern Thailand, many different areas in Thailand use unripe or semi-ripe fruit to create contemporary and distinctive salads.

Thai Salads – Do They Exist?

Earlier than we proceed, it is very important be aware that in Thai delicacies, there isn’t such factor as a “salad”.

Nonetheless, Thai categorization of uncooked vegetable and fruit dishes, comparable to tam and yum dishes, would typically adhere to the Western class of salads.

But, completely different from som tam, right this moment’s dish will not be a “tam” dish, however a “yum” dish. Regardless of utilizing comparable components and dressing, their cooking strategies differ. Within the Thai language, “tam” means “to pound”, whereas “yum” means “to combine”.

Naturally, this impacts the feel and taste of every dish.

A postcard from Southern Thailand

I first encountered Yum Mamuang throughout my latest journey to Krabi, a port metropolis in Southern Thailand. There, I used to be lucky sufficient to have the chance to prepare dinner in an area Curry Rice store, buying valuable culinary data of Southern Thai delicacies.

Regardless of what one may count on, Curry Rice retailers don’t solely serve curries to accompany rice. In a typical Khao Gaeng, they moreover put together soups, stir-fries, grilled meat, and salads.

Certainly, amongst many different dishes that we cooked on that day, there was this Southern Thai delicacy of yum mamuang – a tangy and spicy salad of semi-ripe mangoes, peanuts, and fried anchovies.

I instantly fell in love with the candy and savory distinction of the dish. The semi-ripe mangoes, tangy and barely candy, linked completely to the sourness of the lime juice and the hinted sweetness of the fried peanuts.

Moreover, the mangoes harmonically contrasted the savoriness of the fried anchovies and the warmth of the chilis.

The ingredient that modified all of it

Using fried anchovies stunned me.

In most Thai salads, dried child shrimp could also be added for an additional umami kick – an intangible savoriness that makes you need to eat increasingly more.

The fried anchovies had the same perform, but had been extra pronounced in taste and texture.

Often known as ikan bilis in Malay, fried anchovies have traveled to Southern Thailand from its Malaysian neighbor, the place this ingredient has been used for time immemorial.

Nasi lemak, as an illustration, is taken into account to be Malaysia’s nationwide dish, and regardless of its many variations, the dish virtually at all times incorporates fried anchovies and peanuts.

You may buy dried anchovies on-line (affiliate hyperlink) or out of your native Asian grocer.

Mangoes in Thai delicacies

Thai delicacies makes use of mangoes fairly extensively, they usually play a special position relying on their ripening stage.

On this case, the mangoes are nonetheless unripe, but have already reached a sure stage, the place they’re barely candy.

One may establish this ripening stage by smelling a touch of the candy odor from the inexperienced, seemingly unripe mango.

The dressing for this Thai mango salad

The dressing for this dish, produced from fish sauce, lime juice, chilies, and palm sugar, could be made upfront.

It’s also possible to fry the anchovies and peanuts some time forward, but they’d absolutely style higher if freshly fried.

After getting ready the dressing and fried components, one solely has to combine (or “yum“) them with semi-ripe mangoes, carrots, lengthy beans, and shallots, to create a contemporary, distinctive, and addictive salad.

Yum mamuang is historically loved with rice and is commonly served as a facet dish to loosen up different heavier dishes that could be served, like son-in-law eggs.

I want to end with an necessary professional tip – after mixing all of the components along with the dressing, let the dish sit within the fridge for one more quarter-hour or so. Throughout that point, the greens and anchovies soak up the flavors of the sauce.

By doing this, you’ll make your yum mamuang extra addictive than ever!

Oz is initially from central Israel, and is at the moment based mostly in Amsterdam. Alongside being a jazz musician, he’s a devoted foodie and knowledgeable chef. He has traveled the world since 2021, exploring a few of his favorite cuisines comparable to Thai, Greek, Moroccan and rather more! His favorite option to journey goes to meals markets and venues, interacting with the native individuals and listening to their tales by means of meals. He’s impressed by the unbreakable bond between a tradition and culinary traditions. By travelling and consuming, he enjoys witnessing how meals can affect and be influenced by historical past and cultural alternate.