salad
Som Tum Poo Plara
ส้มตำปูปลาร้า
Very Hot
Som Tum Poo Plara is the most intensely flavoured regional variant of green papaya salad — made with raw pickled blue crab and fermented fish (plara) alongside the standard green papaya ingredients.
Cultural Origin
Som Tum Poo Plara is the most pungent Isaan-Lao version of green papaya salad, pounded with salted black field crab and fermented fish sauce (plara). It is the everyday rural salad of the Lao-Isaan cultural belt and is sharply distinguished from the milder Thai-Chinese 'som tum thai' served in Bangkok.
Regional Variants
| Region | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Isaan | The Isaan version is the original, made with plara and salted black crab and very little sugar. |
| Central | Central Thai vendors sometimes serve a milder, sweeter compromise version with reduced plara. |
Allergens & Sensitivities
fishshellfishcrustaceangarlicchili
Key Ingredients
- green papaya
- raw pickled crab
- fermented fish sauce (plara)
- long beans
- bird's eye chilli
Where to Try It
Authentic Isaan restaurants and street stalls in northeast Thailand and Bangkok's Isaan food areas.
Tips
- This is not for the timid — the fermented fish sauce (plara) gives it a funky, intensely savoury depth that polarises newcomers. Try the milder som tum Thai first.