Traditionally, the jar used to make papaya salad is cut out from solid rock and a wooden pestle is used to crush the ingredients in the jar. There is a subdued thud each time the pestle is hit into the jar to crush the papaya and other ingredients. This sound has probably prompted many foreigners to refer to papaya salad or somtam as 'papaya-puck-puck'!
All types of Thai papaya salad go well with sticky rice and even with grilled chicken. It is often served with a piece of raw cabbage and a few pieces of raw long beans. The cabbage and long beans are placed on a small saucer with a piece of ice. The ice is probably meant to cool the stomach as the Thais love their somtam to be very hot.