Thai Yard Long Bean Salad

We learn as children not to eat beans raw. However, this knowledge doesn’t apply worldwide, as in Southeast Asia and therefore also in Thailand, there are so called “yard long beans” that can indeed be eaten raw. And anything that can be eaten raw can also be made into a Thai salad.

What you need for this is a large Thai Som Tam mortar. In this, all ingredients and spices are pounded and mixed into a salad. To give the salad a certain acidity, a small Thai eggplant and two kumquats also go into the mortar. I now present you with my recipe for a quick “Tam Thua Fak Yao” ( ตำถั่วฝักยาว ).

Preparation

First, thoroughly wash the yard long beans, Thai chilies, kumquats, and Thai eggplant. Then cut the beans into pieces about four centimeters (1.5 inches) long and slice the eggplant thinly.

Now remove the chilies from their stems and peel the garlic. Put both in the mortar and pound firmly. Next comes the palm sugar. Once it’s well crushed and distributed, add the yard long beans to the mortar. We pound these more gently, as they should only split open and not be mashed.

Now add the kumquats, lime juice, and fish sauce, distributing everything with gentle pounding. Finally, add the eggplant slices, which we also pound until they’re distributed throughout the salad.

Transfer the salad to a plate, let it sit for a few minutes, and then serve the “Tam Thua.”

It also works wonderfully as a side dish with curries and other dishes. The number of chilies can be adjusted up or down according to taste.