Ruthilicious Eats: Zucchini Som Tom

My zucchini patch is growing out of control! How did that happen? Actually, I almost forgot that we have one until hubby harvested some nearly matured zucchinis and put them next to my yoga mat while I was doing downward dog.

Well, the last time I saw the patch was when I planted the seeds. Yeah, I was that kind of gardener. The poor little patch was so neglected and unattended. Good thing My Sweetest took care of it whenever he remembers we have another garden somewhere in the yard.

You see, we have a big organic garden in the backyard next to the garage where we grow all our leafy greens. I call it my salad garden. I have kale, beet greens, carrots, swiss chards, spinach, lettuce, peas, string beans, and a dozen varieties of tomatoes. I also have a small plot of organic herbs (thyme, oregano, dill, basil, and mint) in there that I use for seasoning.

Aside from that hubby made another garden near the shed (about 10 yards from the salad and herb garden) to have the zucchini and squash patch. He didn't want the zucchini and squash vine crawling and taking over the salad garden. Makes sense, right?


Anyway, I realized that I am recently obsessed with Som Tom so I decided to make myself another Thai Salad made of whatever is available right now - zucchini. It was as good as the Thai Green Papaya Salad that I made the other day. So I decided to share it with you guys too.

How I made it:
* I shredded or grated a big zucchini by hand. Seriously, it was like I did an entire arm toning workout of sort. The zucchini being big and hard and sorta matured looked and felt perfect for the beating and chopping. It was the firm and much crunchier than the papaya. 

* Then, with my mortal and pestle, I put 2 cloves of garlic first and pound away to crush it good. Next, I added 5 pieces of organic tomatoes (from my organic garden) cut in half. I didn't pound it the way I pounded the garlic because I don't want it crushed to death. I just want a little bruise enough to get the juice out. Then, I put the sliced lime, a tablespoon of fish sauce, a tablespoon of sugar in the raw and a dash of pepper flakes. Then crushed them together to mix them up. 

* Next, I put the rest of the ingredients except the bean sprout and zucchini - a cup of string beans (also from my garden) cut into 2 inches long, a cup of shredded rainbow carrots, a quarter of a cup of chopped red onion. I pressed hard on the added veggies with the pestle enough to bruise them and get mixed up with the first batch of ingredients. 

*Then, I added the zucchini and did the same thing until its juice is released and mixed up with the ingredients. 

* Lastly, I transfer it to a bowl and added the bean sprout and chopped walnuts for garnishing. 

I ate the whole bowl in one sitting as always. I got 3 servings of this recipe (which I ate also for snack and dinner). It could be more than that for others I suppose. But I am hungry for doing all the preparations. So don't judge me.

Though I believe it should only take about 10 minutes of preparation but with all the photoshoots involved and the running around the kitchen looking for the ingredients, opening and closing the fridge a hundred times... it took 30 minutes total.

But I finished the bowl in three minutes or less. I'm not sure. Time flies.

Anyway, I don't think it will take you that long to make this recipe unless you want to do some food porn for your IG too.

There you go, my friends. Hope you like it. And by the way, you can add any veggies you like. It's your bowl so you're the boss.



This recipe is flexible. I don't follow recipes. I break them. You can do it too! Enjoy!