Thai salad

Thai salads

Yam thale, Thai mixed seafood salad
Type	Salad
Place of origin	Thailand
Main ingredients	Various
Variations	Yam, tam, lap, phla

Salads that are internationally known as Thai salads, with a few exceptions, fall into four main methods of preparation. In Thai cuisine these are called Yam, Tam, Lap and Phla. A few additional dishes can also be regarded as being a salad.

Thai salads often do not have raw vegetables or fruit as their main ingredient but use minced meat, seafood or noodles instead. Similar to salads in the West, these dishes often have a souring agent, usually lime juice, and feature the addition of fresh herbs and other greens in their preparation. Thai salads are not served as entrées but normally eaten as one of the main dishes in a Thai buffet-style meal, together with rice (depending on the region this can be glutinous rice or non-glutinous rice) or the Thai rice noodle called khanom chin. Specialised khao tom kui (plain rice congee) restaurants also serve a wide variety of Thai salads of the yam type as side dishes. Many Thai salads, for instance the famous som tam, are also eaten as a meal or snack on their own.

Yam (Thai pronunciation: [jām]) literally means "mix" but in Thai cuisine it normally refers to a type of salad-like dishes in the culinary repertoire of Thailand. Yam can be made with a wide variety of ingredients as its main ingredient and nearly any type of protein, vegetable, fruit, herb, spice, and noodle, or combinations thereof, is possible. The main ingredient can be raw, pickled, fermented, sun-dried, smoked, steamed, parboiled, boiled, grilled, baked, stir-fried or deep-fried, or combinations thereof. Besides the main ingredient, the basic recipe of a yam will nearly always contain sliced fresh shallots or onions, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and fresh or dried chillies. When herbs are used, it is usually Chinese celery, sometimes in combination with other fresh herbs such as spearmint, coriander leaves, spring onions and culantro. Very often, sliced tomatoes are also added in, or finely slices fresh spices such as lemongrass, ginger, galangal, or khamin khao (lit. "white turmeric").