Spicy Isaan cucumber salad (Tum Tang) is a salty, savory, sweet, tangy dish that is easy to put together for a quick, healthy, tasty meal. The salad has extra flavors and crunchy textures that delight your taste buds! It's a perfect side dish or served as a main meal!
Try these Lao green papaya salad recipes for fresh salads. Thai green papaya salad, Thai spicy green bean salad, and Thai green mango salad with cashew. All very popular and for very good and tasty reasons!
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What Is Isaan Cucumber Salad
Spicy Issan papaya salad or tum thang has the same flavor profiles as Thai and Lao Papaya salad or Tum Mak Hoong. However, the Lao Som tum tends to have spicier and stronger flavors with added fermented fish sauce, Pla Ra. It's a potent sauce that may take your nose bud for a spin if it's your first time cooking. Be open-minded. You'll hardly notice the smell once it's all blended.
What is "TUM"
“Som Tum,” “Tum Som,” “Tum,” or “Tam” are all variations of spellings for the way the salads are made. “Som” means sour, and “Tum” means to pound or crush. The vegetables, garlic, chilis, and sauces are pounded or crushed in a mortar and pestle. This Asian cucumber salad has many different variations.
Why this Recipe Works
- It’s a light dish that can be eaten by itself, as a side salad, or as a tasty starter to a meal.
- It’s healthy! This salad uses tons of vegetables; you can substitute sugar for honey or agave.
- It’s quick and easy to put together. 15-20 minutes max!
- You can prepare the sauce separately if you don’t have a mortar and pestle to make it home.
Ingredients
- Cucumber. This recipe is perfect for English, Lebanese, Persian, or mini cucumbers. This is the main ingredient, so be sure to find these, if possible, for the best tasting. Thin skins and cucumbers are best for this salad because they are crispy with a slight tang and sweetness.
- Green beans. Long snake beans are traditionally used, but any green beans will work!
- Tomatoes. Ripe cherry tomatoes are excellent, adding flavor and juice to the salad. Any tomatoes will do, but pick slightly softer ones if possible.
- Garlic. Use fresh raw garlic cloves; you'll want to smash these into small pieces but not turn them into a paste.
- Chilis. Use fresh Thai peppers for this recipe, anywhere from 1 to 10 pieces, according to your spice level preference. Thai chilis are extremely spicy, especially when cooked with the seeds on. Don't pound the chilis until they break apart for a less spicy taste. Leave them semi-whole, as the seeds will release oil that makes a recipe extra spicy. Chili flakes are an option if you are unable to find fresh chilis.
- Fish sauce. Use lighter brands like Three Crab or Red Boat. They are less salty and have a milder flavor.
- Sugar. For the sweeteners, use palm sugar, brown or white sugar, monk fruit, honey, or agave.
- Lime juice. Use lemon juice as a substitute, but lime juice will give a better tangy taste.
- Tamarind. Use tamarind concentrate from a jar. These can be found in the Asian market.
- Plara, or fermented fish. I highly recommend finding this sauce, as it is the main sauce that sets Laos and Isaan Som Tom apart from Thai ones. The authentic street flavors are bottled up in this secret sauce. You can find it at your local Asian store.
- Dried shrimp. Substitute raw shrimp or omit them completely if you can't find them.
How to Cut Cucumbers for Making Tum Mak Tang
- Wash and towel dry the cucumbers.
- Cut the cucumbers in half, then cut each half into long, thin strips by making vertical cuts.
- If your cucumbers are on the longer side, feel free to cut those strips in half so you end up with pieces that are about 4-5 inches long.
- Keep slicing until you have about 3 cups of those delicious cucumber strips ready.
How To Make This Recipe
Step 1. Use a sharp knife to cut the cucumbers into long, thin julienne slivers. *See the section above on how to cut the cucumbers for the salad.
Step 2. Lightly pound the garlic and chilis in a large mortar and pestle, but don’t make a paste.
Step 3. Add the sauces. Fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, tamarind, and Plara. Mix the sauces well until the sugar is mostly dissolved.
Step 4. Add the sliced tomatoes and green beans. Firmly pound together, and avoid splashing the sauce too much.
Step 5. Add the cucumber and dried shrimp, then pound for a minute or so until the salads look bruised but not too crushed. At this point, the cucumber juices will marinate beautifully with the sauces.
Step 6. Add the crushed peanuts (optional). Let the salad marinate for 2-3 minutes while preparing a plate with garnish to serve.
Step 7. Serve with sticky rice, vermicelli rice noodles, or jasmine rice as a stand-alone salad. The rice and noodles will help absorb some of the salad's spiciness.
Helpful Kitchen Notes And Tips
- For this salad, use pickling, English, or Persian cucumbers. Japanese cucumbers are an excellent option, too, if you can find them. The waxy American cucumbers are too rubbery and don’t hold flavors.
- For extra crispy cucumbers, soak the clean cucumber in an ice bath in a bowl for 15-20 minutes. The ice will “waken” and crisp up the cucumbers beautifully, especially if your cucumbers are a bit older. Wipe dry with a paper towel before cutting into your crisp cucumber.
- Make the sauce separately if you do not have a mortar and pestle. Use a large bowl to mix all the ingredients. Use your fingers to massage the ingredients together until the vegetables are lightly bruised. Adjust the flavors as needed.
- If your salad is too salty, add more sugar. If it is too sour, add more fish sauce and sugar. If too sweet, add fish sauce. Keep playing with the sauces until you’re happy with the flavors.
- Add 1-2 small slices of squeezed lime rind to the salad for an extra layer of herbaceous taste. Remove the rind before serving. In Thailand, the locals typically leave the rind on the plate but do not eat it.
- For added flavor and color, shredded carrots, Thai round eggplants, nuts, or tiny raw shrimp.
- Try these for garnishing options. The traditional way to serve Som Tam is with a platter full of garnishing veggies like sliced cabbage, water spinach, Thai basil, pork rind, sliced raw Thai eggplants, Thai basil, and sticky rice or cooked vermicelli noodles. To eat the salad, slice cabbage, leafy crispy lettuce, and Napa cabbage as a wrap.
- Once you've mastered a couple of Som Tum recipes, the next time, try mixing and using different fruits and vegetables and play around with them. It will open a world of extra tasty salads to you in ways you never knew existed! (:
Helpful Kitchen Tools for this Recipe
FAQs
Plara or Padaek is a fermented sauce made from small fish, rice bran, and salt. It is fermented for months and is commonly used in many Laos, Isaan, and Thai dishes.
Laos Som Tum is similar to the famous Thai Papaya salad. It's a dish that originated from Laos, and Isaan then migrated throughout Thailand to become the world-famous salad it is today. The difference between Thai and Lao Som Tum is that Lao Som Tams are more flavorful and spicy and use more fermented ingredients like Padaek (fermented fish), shrimp paste, crab paste, and fish sauce.
Som Tum in Thai translates to "Sour Pounding," referring to the pounding method used to make the salad, which uses lots of sour, tangy, sweet, and savory flavors from various sauces.
Som Tam is traditionally made in a clay mortar and pestle using green papaya. However, it can be made with many fruits and vegetables, including Asian cucumbers, green beans, carrots, apples, mangoes, pineapple, and watermelon.
For a traditional food pairing, these dishes and ingredients can be served with Spicy Lao papaya salad: chicken wings, pork belly, fried fish, grilled beef or pork, pork rind, or fish balls.
More Thai Recipes You’ll Love!
- Lao green papaya salad recipe
- Thai green papaya salad
- Thai green mango salad with cashew
- Thai glass noodle salad with shrimp
- Thai crispy egg salad, Yum Kai Dow
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Isaan Cucumber Salad (Tum Tang)
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 3 1x
- Diet: Low Calorie
Description
Spicy Isaan cucumber salad (Tum Tang) is a salty, savory, sweet, tangy dish that is easy to put together for a quick, healthy, tasty meal. The salad has extra flavors and crunchy textures that will delight your taste buds! It's a perfect side dish or served as a main meal!
Ingredients
- 3 cups sliced cucumbers
- ⅓ cup green beans, slice into 1-inch pieces
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1-2 garlic cloves, whole
- 1-10 Thai chilis, as preferred for spice level
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 3 Crabs, or Red Boat brand for best flavors
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon tamarind
- 1 tablespoon Plara. Use the Pantai brand (from the Asian market) or this brand.
- 2 ½ tablespoons dried shrimp
Instructions
- Use a sharp knife, then cut cucumbers into long thin julienne slivers. *See the section above on how to cut the cucumbers for the salad.
- Lightly pound the garlic and chilis in a large mortar and pestle. Don’t make a paste.
- Add the sauces: fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, tamarind, and Pla Ra sauce. Mix the sauces well until the sugar is mostly dissolved.
- Add the sliced tomatoes and green beans. Firmly pound together, and avoid splashing the sauce too much.
- Add the cucumber and dried shrimp, then pound for a minute or so until the salads look bruised but not too crushed. The cucumber juices will marinate beautifully with the sauces at this point.
- Add the crushed peanuts (optional). Let the salad sit to marinade for 2-3 minutes while you prepare a plate with garnish to serve in.
- Serve with sticky rice, vermicelli rice noodles, or jasmine rice, or serve as a stand-alone salad. The rice and noodles will help absorb some of the spicinesses of the salad.
Notes
- Use pickling, English, or Persian cucumbers for this salad. Japanese cucumbers are an excellent option, too, if you can find some. The waxy American cucumbers are too rubbery and don’t hold flavors.
- For extra crispy cucumbers, soak the clean cucumber in an ice bath, in a bowl, for 15-20 minutes. The ice will “wakens” and crisp up the cucumbers beautifully, especially if your cucumbers are a bit older. Make sure to wipe dry with a paper towel before cutting into your crisp cucumber.
- Make the sauce separately if you do not have a mortar and pestle. Use a large bowl, then mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Use your fingers to massage all the ingredients together until the vegetables are lightly bruised. Adjust the flavors as needed.
- If your salad is too salty, add more sugar. If too sour, add more fish sauce and sugar. If too sweet, add fish sauce. Keep playing with the sauces until you’re happy with the flavors.
- Add 1-2 small slices of squeezed lime rind into the salad for the extra layer of herbaceous taste. Remove the rind before serving. In Thailand, the locals typically leave them on the plate but do not eat them.
- For added flavor and color, shredded carrots, Thai round eggplants, nuts, and or tiny raw shrimp.
- For garnishing options, try these. The traditional way to serve Som Tam is with a platter full of garnishing veggies like sliced cabbage, water spinach, Thai or Italian basil, pork rind, sliced raw Thai eggplants, Thai basil, and sticky rice or cooked vermicelli noodles. Use slice cabbage, leafy crispy lettuce, and Napa cabbage as a wrap to eat the salad.
- Once you've mastered a couple of Som Tum recipes, the next time, try mixing and using different fruit and vegetables and play around with them. It will open up a world of extra tasty salads to you in ways you never knew existed! (:
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Salad
- Method: salad
- Cuisine: Thai
** Thank you so much for visiting my blog! This is truly a passion for me. If you have enjoyed these recipes and appreciate the hard work I put into them, I would love it if you would share them with your friends! Your recommendation is the highest review I could hope for, and I’d appreciate it! **
Suwanee says
THIS. Made my day, Thank you, Chef Nate! I'm so happy you found this recipe and thank you for the comment and review. Keep enjoying and perhaps try it with green beans and green papaya if you get a chance?
Chef Nate says
I live in Milwaukee where some of the best restaurants here are Thai or Laotian. As I've made the rounds of trying them all the past year, I recently had a cucumber salad that was different (and imo better) than all the rest. I finally figured out that one of their secret ingredients was tamarind paste, but I didn't know the full recipe. With a little help of Google, I landed here and found exactly what I was looking for. This salad is damn delicious, and I've been making it at least once a week, if not twice, for the last month. Love this food blog too!
Suwanee says
Welcome! I'm so happy you're here! If you have questions about any of the recipes, process, techniques or anything at all, please feel free to comment or contact me. I'd love to help.
-Suwanee
Jennifer Traugott says
I am so glad to find your site. We love Thai foods. Thk you so much for including the link to ordering the kwi Peeler. I was delighted. We love green papaya salad and your recipe looks fabulous. Will look forward to preparing it.
Courtney says
The perfect simmer salad. It was extra crunchy and refreshing. Full of flavors!
naira says
The page you have created is very beautiful and it must not have been so easy, you must have found it very difficult because it is not an easy task to write your thoughts in words, I love your written words, keep writing in the same way.