I often wonder where my mother got the courage to agree to move to Thailand back in the late 70’s. Then, not many knew where or what is Thailand. Heck, even when I went back for summer vacations in Taiwan in the mid-eighties, people thought I confused Thailand for the United States of America. The two words differ by only one character in Chinese. One of my Chinese tutors even tried to correct me for a good half an hour. Fed-up, I played along until my aunt corrected him. She had to show him where the Kingdom of Thailand was on a world atlas.

So, what was it like for my mom to pack and move to a country that she had never heard of with three very young offspring? I never asked. And now? I am happy to be here. But I do remember how we had to change our palate overnight. The food was so foreign. None of the maids knew how to make Taiwanese food. My mom doesn’t cook, so, we had to eat bastardized versions of the maids’ notion of Chinese food. Basically, anything that is bland and doesn’t use fish sauce. In fact, for the longest time, fish sauce and fermented shrimp paste were banned in my house. Not because of the offensive smell but my parents were afraid they would poison us, kids with weak tummies. Plus they were never part of our diet.

Imagine my surprise one day, when Mom came home with a bag of som tam or green papaya salad. It caused such a raucous. The strong smell of fish sauce and garlic just about exploded into every corner of the house when the bag was opened. Luckily, Dad was at work. I don’t remember what happened next except that Mom seemed to enjoy it, my four-year-old brother was giggling, and I sneaked a small papaya strand. It wasn’t spicy at all (no chili was probably added) but very crunchy. Even to this day I equate som tam with crunch. We soon found out Brother was giggling because he had been sneaking strands of papaya, too.

For years, som tam had always meant those green papaya salad for me. It wasn’t until high school that I found out som tam is just a term that refers to “salads” made a particular way. And it can be made with just about any vegetable or fruit. My first non-papaya som tam was, once again, in San Francisco. It was made with chayote. My second is with carrots in Bangkok. The third one is green apples in France. And the fourth is made with kanom jeen (fermented rice noodle) at home (take out). My som tam experience is indeed limited. And the Powers that Be must have sensed that because out of nowhere I went grocery shopping in a place that I normally never went. I didn’t find many things I want but bought a few things that I didn’t come for. One of them is Taeng Thai Orn or young Thai Long Musk Melon or Cucumis Melo L. The ripe fruit is either bland or tastes like cucumber sprinkled lightly with sugar. It’s the one fruit I avoid buying. The young fruit can be pickled, eaten with spicy dips or made into salads. Yup, that’s where the som tam comes in. In fact, this has become my favorite som tam of the moment.

Taeng Thai Orn look like funky cucmbers with white streaks but are so much more deliciously crispy and crunchy. I also love their faint summery smell of the watermelon’s green rind…………………can watermelon rinds be som tam‘d?

Ingredients:

2 young Thai Musk Melons

5 cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon toasted dried shrimps

2 tablespoon toasted peanuts

1-2 Bird’s eye chili

3 cloves small garlic

Lime juice

1/2 tablespoon palm sugar

Fish sauce

1. Cut the musk melon width-wise in 3mm slices. Then cut those slices into 3mm-size match sticks. Set aside.

2. In the mortar, add in the chili and pound lightly. Then add in the garlic and pound together lightly. Next add in the palm sugar and pound everything together again. When done add in the dried shrimps and pound them all together very lightly.

3. Cut the tomatoes in half and add in the mortar. Very lightly, mash or pound the tomatoes. Add in the musk melon. Lightly mash or mix everything together.

4. Add in the juice of half a lime and 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce. Mix everything together well and taste. Add more lime juice or fish sauce as needed. Sprinkle with the toasted peanuts and serve.