Pomelo Salad (Yum Som-O) ยำส้มโอ

Pailin Chongchitnant • June 23, 2017

Jump to video!


Pomelo is like a giant, sweet grapefruit. When you get a good pomelo..few things are more refreshing and invigorating to eat! It's also the perfect candidate for this beautiful, light salad, and I waited a long time to make this recipe cuz I wanted to make sure I am in Thailand where pomelos are the best in the world!

In this video I also show you how to peel a pomelo! It's a massive fruit so it is intimidating to many people, and tons of Thai people (including me) often buy pre-peeled ones just for convenience. But once you know the trick, it's really not hard—it just takes a bit of time!

 

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

pomelo salad

Pomelo Salad (Yum Som-O) ยำส้มโอ


Ingredients

Dressing

  • 1 Tbsp palm sugar (see note)
  • 1½ Tbsp lime juice (see note)
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • Thai chilies, to taste

The Salad

  • 2 cups Pomelo, torn into chunks (see how to peel a pomelo in the video)
  • 3 Tbsp shredded coconut, dark toasted
  • 2 Tbsp roasted peanuts, coarsely ground
  • 2 Tbsp dried shrimp, blitzed in a blender or coffee grinder until fluffy
  • 3 Tbsp shallots, thinly sliced
  • 2 kaffir lime leaves, very finely julienned
  • 2 inches lemongrass, bottom half only, very thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup mint leaves
  • ¼ cup cilantro leaves (optional)
  • Wild betel leaves for serving (optional)
  • Option: If you want to make the salad a bit more substantial, some people top the salad with some cooked shrimp as well.

Note:  The measurements I provided is for a pomelo that is relatively sweet and not very tart. You will need to adjust the dressing measurements according to the sweetness/tartness of the pomelo. If the pomelo is quite tart, use more sugar and less lime juice. 

Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use


Instructions

In a mortar and pestle, grind the chilies into a paste, then add palm sugar and pound until dissolved. Add fish sauce and lime juice and swirl to mix.

Pour the dressing into a mixing bowl, then add all other ingredients and toss to combine. That's it! You can serve it as is or serve some wild betel leaves (chaploo leaves) along side it which you can use to make little bit-sized wrap of the salad.

Join us on Patreon for bonus content & rewards!


Tip: Peeled pomelo segments will keep in the fridge for at least a week or 2, so after I peel the whole thing, I just stick them in a well sealed container in the fridge, et voila, ready-to-eat delicious pomelo in the fridge for days! And pomelo is so much better cold, too!

By Pailin Chongchitnant May 7, 2022
Tom yum goong maybe the most famous soup of Thailand, but its milder creamier sister, tom kha gai , is my personal favourite. This comforting Thai coconut chicken soup recipe is infused with the classic Thai herbs: lemongrass, galangal, and makrut (kaffir) lime leaves. It's so easy yet so loveable that when someone asks, "I'm new to Thai food, what should I try/make first?" Tom kha gai is my answer.
By Pailin Chongchitnant May 6, 2022
If you love mangoes, and you love mango desserts, Mango Royale, aka Mango Float, is an absolute must-try; right after mango and sticky rice , of course! It's a frozen Filipino dessert that takes advantage of peak-of-the-season mangoes, and uses only 5 ingredients. There's no baking involved, and it's so easy it's essentially fool-proof!
By Pailin Chongchitnant April 22, 2022
I LOVE all kinds of basil, but I don't love how quickly it goes bad and that it doesn't freeze well. So I came up with this recipe as a way to use up any amount of basil you have on hand . It's an easy and versatile sauce that only uses pantry staples, and can be stored in the fridge for at least a week. Reheat it and pour onto any cooked protein, or use it as a stir fry sauce - or heck, you can even use it as gravy for your mashed potatoes. It can also be made vegan. The possibilities are endless!
By Pailin Chongchitnant April 8, 2022
Imagine this: soft and creamy ice cream bars that you didn't need to whip or churn. All you have to do is cook the ice cream base, pour it into a mold, then cut it into pieces. And it's so soft your teeth will glide right through it as you take a bite, and it's wonderfully chewy. Yes, chewy.
By Pailin Chongchitnant March 25, 2022
I wanted a fried rice recipe that really celebrates the flavours of chilies - not just their heat. This fried rice features not one, not two, but three different types of chilies, combined with the fragrance of Thai basil to tie it all together! And no, it doesn't make this dish overwhelmingly spicy, and you can indeed customize the heat level while still preserving all the delicious chili flavour. It's not something I created out of thin air, but a traditional Thai dish (with a couple of tweaks from me)!
By Pailin Chongchitnant March 8, 2022
If you love cooking Asian food, oyster sauce is probably already in your kitchen. But do you know if the one you have is a "good one”? And is the expensive oyster sauce you bought (or didn't buy) worth the splurge?
By Pailin Chongchitnant March 3, 2022
With over 3 million views on YouTube, this recipe is one of the most popular, and an OG, on Hot Thai Kitchen. This world-famous tom yum soup is universally loved; and with this authentic recipe I promise you can make it as good as, if not better than, the ones in restaurants. It's one of the first dishes I learned to make as a child because it's so easy, making this a great first Thai dish to try!
By Pailin Chongchitnant March 1, 2022
Thai green curry chicken is my most popular recipe on the YouTube channel with over 4 million views . If you want a completely authentic recipe, and one that maximizes deliciousness, this is it right here. It is one of the best known dishes of Thai cuisine, and despite its complex flavours, it is actually quite easy to make at home. It's also gluten free, and adaptable for vegans!
By Pailin Chongchitnant February 21, 2022
Pad see ew is one of the most well-known and well-loved Thai dishes, but most people only know of the more common version of pad see ew that uses fresh wide rice noodles (ho fun). This version however uses thin rice vermicelli, and it's the one that I actually grew up eating in Thailand. It’s an incredibly fast dish to make; from the time I get up to cook to the time I sit down to eat, it takes only 20 minutes! You can even watch me prep and cook it all up in real time in the video tutorial below just to see how fast it really is!
By Pailin Chongchitnant February 7, 2022
Easy, delicious, and versatile; what else could you ask for in a chicken recipe? Lemongrass chicken is a staple menu item in Vietnamese restaurants in Canada, and one that my husband gets all the time - which is why I was inspired to recreate it. It is so quick to prepare, kid-friendly, can last you the whole week in the fridge (yay meal prep), and you can grill or broil it!
More Posts
Share by: