in a desperate bid to seem like i'm a healthy eater (as opposed to being a healthy=hearty eater), i give you a green mango salad. mainly because i have a lot of green mangoes about, but also because in this hot weather a lot of us are experiencing, it's a light, refreshing repast. you'll find various forms of this salad throughout southeast asia, but with the basic ingredients intact: julienned green mango, cilantro, basil or mint, shallots or onions. the dressing is made with any number of ingredients, but the main idea is to achieve a balance of the following flavours: sweet, spicy, salty, and sour.
the salad above is composed of julienned green mango, cilantro, thai basil leaves, tiny cherry tomatoes, shallots, and lightly sauteed squid. i used some of the dressing to marinate the squid beforehand, but i'm not sure if it made a difference. i think next time i'll try grilling the squid over charcoal for a little smokiness. you can skip the seafood or use prawns, mussels, or even thinly slice grilled flank steak as a meatier alternative.
just as the salad, you can use whatever you like in the dressing. i used freshly squeezed lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, finely chopped thai bird chili peppers, and finely chopped shallots. i heated up the ingredients to help dissolve the sugar and mellow out the flavours a bit, but that's entirely unnecessary. just get to a flavour to you like, pour it on the mixed salad, and enjoy.
refreshing like thai's mango salad. i think can replace mango with young papaya... yum yum
ReplyDeleteHi Santos,
ReplyDeleteThis looks really refreshing especially considering how humid it has been lately...nevermind that it's not as bad here as it is there! =P
I just can't handle it!
Oh Gaaaaawd, my mouth just completely watered, thinking of delicious sour green mangoes. That salad just looks so good and so perfect for hot muggy summer days.
ReplyDeleteNow I shall sit here and salivate over your blog entry. Err..someone hand me a napkin, pleas?
hi there, was bloghopping and landed here. I should say i really love ur blog since i'm a food lover. D'ya mind if i link u up?
ReplyDeleteI look forward to read more about ur food-tage. hehehe..
Hope to hear frm u soon.
Rgds..
Hi Santos - I have next to no experience with mangoes, so I have a really dumb question... are green mangoes a type of mango or are they underripe mangoes? I've been seeing mangoes at good prices recently and keep thinking I ought to get a couple different ones to try... but haven't... yet. Your salad is beautiful.
ReplyDeletehi tony m--thank you for dropping by! i hope dinner went well :) and yes, i will keep smiling :D
ReplyDeletehi babe! i was going to mention that you can replace the mango with papaya but then you'd have to change the name of the salad :D
hi reid--oh no! the worst of the humidity has passed here, but it's still freakin' hot. when it gets too humid it rains.
hi lorelei! i hope someone did :)
hi elated--thank you for the link and i hope you come by again soon!
hi cathy! it's not a dumb question at all. there are some mangoes that stay green even when they are ripe, some that are best when they are eaten green, and some that are just unripe when when they are green. you can use any of them for this recipe. green mangoes can be quite astringent, though, so if you don't want something so sour, you can try it with a ripe but still firm mango which is different, but really nice as as sweet-sour alternative.
Yummylicious salad!
ReplyDeleteYou can even replace the young mangoes with pomelo but then the salad will be slightly sweeter.
hey boo--what a fantastic idea, i'll have to try it soon. thanks!
ReplyDeleteand here we are, #2 sonny and i taking really tiny bites of the last of our pickled green mango from Manila... weeping.
ReplyDeletelovely post and photo santos!!
grilled squid would be heavenly with this i think :).
dr. stel! no more green mango pickles--oh nooooo!! hm, i wonder how big of a mess i can possibly make by trying to mail you some....
ReplyDeleteWhat a goregous picture Santos. It looks like a perfect dish for a sunny afternoon.
ReplyDeleteWow Ate, you still have green mangoes worthy of a salad! This is something like a twist on a classic... mmmm... drooling...
ReplyDeleteHi Santos,
ReplyDeleteBTW...Gail over at Hawaii Diner posted a link to this here post. Don't know you if you caught her blurb.
hello gemma! it is a great summer salad.
ReplyDeletehey karen--that was pretty much the last of the green mangoes, sad to say :(
hi reid! i did see that, thanks. and thank you, gail for adding the link!
hi santos!
ReplyDeletelooking good!! sarap naman!! green mangga eh?!! i don't know if my wife would let me get to the point of shredding it!! she might jus grab it away from me with her dish of ginisang bagoong and run away! lol :D i grew up with mango trees in our backyard and neighborhood. sure do miss fresh "FREE" mangoes now... :/
i always love your presentation in your pictures btw. :D
hi reggie! free mangoes are the best!
ReplyDeleteGreen Mango with Bagoong
ReplyDeleteMangoes are abundanat in my homeplace Jaro,Iloilo City , Philippines and usually if we are going to eat green mango we will eat it with bagoong ( a Filipino version of shrimp paste ) in its natural state or fried bagoong with tomatoes, onion and garlic or else we will dip it in soy sauce mixture which has salt, calamansi(native Philippine lime which is dark green in color).Try it is sourly delicious and a very good appetizer.Filipinos who can hear about this find themselves salivating for the taste of it.
writing from Canada, a small town near Toronto. I've been ordered by a friend who is cooking chicken curry (Carribean style) to make Green Mango salad...what to do, what to do (I've eaten lots of it but never made it) So thanks for the 'dumb' question Cathy, I bought regular mango's (slightly underripe) and then dithered not know if one can use normal mangoes or did I have to drive across town (25 min) or use what I have...I now know a)the recipe and b)the story on the mangoes. Final note; you lot my be hot b/c of the humidity (which I hate) but up here it will soon be soooo cold that it's gender confusion b/c of the amount of clothing we have to wear and then when we see skin again in April, you'd swear we were all on something!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe. Dee
hi dee (laughing) i've been in toronto in april, i know exactly what you mean. thanks for the laugh, and i'm glad you tried the recipe. what did you think?
ReplyDeleteaww man! drool drool as in super drooling! was just commenting on a friends blog on mangga burro, then i try to find a reciepe (which i cant) then i find this insanely yummylishous food blog! sweet. funny comments too! lol at reggie's wife- thats so me- love g.bagoong...mmm
ReplyDelete