Bok Lahong
| Bok Lahong | |
|---|---|
| Khmer name | បុកល្ហុង |
| Other names | Bok l'hong; Bok hong; Green papaya salad |
| Dish types | Salad |
| Subjects | Food & Foodways; Migration & Diaspora; Land, Place & Environment |
| Related dishes | Nhoam Svay; Tuk Trey |
Pounded green papaya salad with crab, prahok, lime and chilli, eaten across Cambodia.
Bok Lahong (Khmer: បុកល្ហុង) is a pounded green papaya salad with crab, prahok, lime and chilli, eaten across Cambodia. (Wikipedia: Green papaya salad)
Cultural context
Bok lahong is the Cambodian name for green papaya salad, a spicy salad of shredded unripe papaya balancing sour, spicy, salty, savoury and slightly sweet flavours with lime, chilli, fish sauce and palm sugar, and often garlic, brined rice-field crab, dried shrimp, shrimp or fish paste, tomatoes, hog plums and raw Thai eggplant. (Wikipedia: Green papaya salad) The salad is believed to have been created by Lao people and is considered one of the national dishes of Laos, is popular in Cambodia as well as Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, and Cambodian cuisine is listed among its associated cuisines. (Wikipedia: Green papaya salad) Papayas were cultivated in Cambodia in the 1500s, and the Lao were introduced to papaya by Khmer Loeu living in provinces bordering southeastern Laos, where the fruit was called l'hun or lohung in Khmer. (Wikipedia: Green papaya salad) 196 Flavors presents bok lahong as one of the pillars of Cambodian cuisine while tracing the dish to the Lao preparation tam som, meaning to pound sour ingredients. (196 Flavors) A Food and Wine recipe by Phila Lorn describes bok lahong as a colourful Cambodian delicacy. (Food & Wine)
Preparations and recipes
- Vera, 196 Flavors
- Grated green papaya and carrot pounded with garlic, chilli, lemongrass, crab and prahok, then tossed with lime and palm sugar.
Regional and community variations
The same pounded salad is called bok lahong, bok l'hong or bok hong in Cambodia, tam som or tam maak hoong in Laos, som tam in Thailand and goi du du in Vietnam, and tam som in Laos is the generic name for mortar-pounded preparations that may instead use green mango or cucumber. (196 Flavors)