Recipe: Green Mango & Cashew Salad

Green Mango & Cashew Salad
yam mamuang

Green Mango
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 10 min

This salad is so superb that even though green mangoes are usually a fairly esoteric item outside of Southeast Asia, they're well worth tracking down just to make this recipe. The sourness of the mango is offset by a touch of sugar, a heady aroma provided by kaffir lime leaves and other herbs, with a splash of fish sauce for salty fragrance and chilies to give a bit of a bite. The cashew nuts add crunchy sweetness to the salad, which is great with just about anything, especially grilled or fried food. This recipe is a specialty of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia, where cashew trees are cultivated.

4-5 unripe green mangoes (about 11/4 lb or 600 g), peeled
2-3 teaspoons caster sugar, or more to taste
2 kaffir lime leaves, in hair-like shreds
2 tablespoons minced fresh coriander leaf
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
2-3 red or green bird's-eye chilies, thinly sliced
3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/3 cup (45 g) raw cashews, dry roasted until golden and crisp

Hold a peeled mango over a shredder and grate to make matchstick shreds. Alternatively, hold the mango in the palm of one hand and with a sharp knife in your other hand, make vertical cuts down to the stone, keeping the cuts close together. Hold the knife horizontally and slice across to make shreds. Repeat on the other side of the mango.

Put the mango shreds in a bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Massage with your fingers for about 30 seconds, then add all other ingredients except the cashews, tossing to mix well. Taste and if the mangoes seem too sour, add more sugar. Add the cashews, toss and serve immediately. (This salad can also be used as a topping for grilled fish, see page 148.)

Buy the Book!

from:
Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass
Southeast Asia's Best Recipes from Bangkok to Bali
By Wendy Hutton
With a Foreword by Charmaine Solomon
Periplus Editions
$35.00. Hardcover 224 pp
ISBN: 0-7946-0157-X
Recipe reprinted by permission.