Som tam or Som tum also known as Tam mak hoong or Tam bak hoong is a spicy salad made from shredded unripened papaya. It is originally from Laos and the Isan region of northeastern Thailand.

Ingredients
The dish combines the four main tastes of Lao/Thai cuisine: sour lime, hot chile, salty fish sauce, and sweetness added by palm sugar. In Laos and Thailand, it is customary that a customer ask the preparer to make the dish suited to his or her tastes, but traditionally, a typical tam mak hoong will contain some or all of the following items:

Chili
Sugar (sometimes also palm sugar )
Garlic
Lime
Fish sauce
Brined crabs
Shrimp paste
Padaek
Yardlong beans
Tomatoes
Hog Plums

Som tam is often served with sticky rice and gai yang. It is also sometimes served over rice noodles and raw vegetables to mitigate the spiciness of the dish, or simply as a snack by itself with crispy pork rinds.

Variations
Variations of the dish are found throughout Laos and Thailand, as well as in the West, where it is more commonly known by its Thai version and Thai name. A similar dish is also eaten in Cambodia, where it is known as bok l'hong.

The Central Thai version tends to be quite mild and much sweeter, in comparison, and often contains crushed peanuts, and less likely to have padaek or brined crab. These are typically raw, so the Thai government periodically warns about hepatitis risk. Dried brine shrimp are also used in this version, commonly referred to as som tam rama. There are also versions that are made with unripened mangoes, cucumbers, carrots, and other firm vegetables or unripened fruits.