Dankali Som Tum

When we lived in Thailand, one of my favorite dishes was som tum.  I loved the combination of sweet and spicy in salad form.  And I wasn't alone - my high school even had an annual som tum competition.  I think chili cook-offs have a similar format:  each team makes the designated dish (som tum/chili) but uses their own secret ingredients and way of preparing it.  Then attendees and judges go around and taste them and pick the winner.  At least that's how the high school competition went.

Since arriving in Cameroon I've been eager to re-create this yummy dish.  I was especially encouraged by the abundance of papaya trees because green papaya forms the foundation of the salad.  Unfortunately, no one sells unripe papayas and I certainly wasn't going to scale someone else's tree to get some.  It seemed som tum would never happen.

And then a few days ago another volunteer visited me.  I was trying to explain what a dankali nassara is and describe its taste to my friend.  After sampling it she said, "I think this is a jicama."  So that led to a wikipedia search (yes, dankali nassara is fulfulde for jicama), which led to looking for jicama recipe ideas, which led me to this salad, which looks a lot like som tum.

This som tum has the same sweet, tangy spiciness that I remember.  If you could find dried shrimp or fish oil or palm sugar, the taste would be more authentic. Or if I could get one of those green papayas!  Anyway, enjoy this village version of som tum!

Ingredients:
1. Jicama, peeled and grated (use the biggest holes)
2. 1 carrot, grated
3. 1 pinch of salt
4. 1 pinch of sugar
5. chopped piment
6. juice of 2 small limes
7. small handful of freshly roasted peanuts, chopped

Directions:
1. Mix grated jicama and carrot(s) in a salad bowl.
2. Add in other ingredients, mixing well to coat the jicama and carrot.  Add as much piment and lime as you like.  I used a tiny amount of piment and 2 limes.
3. Top with peanuts.

Makes enough for one kind-of hungry person.