Thai Mango Salad

While I was at work on Saturday, Biscuit Boy went grocery shopping. We had nothing in the way of veggies and needed to restock. I got an e-mail from him saying he was home and had a surprise for me. Hmmm.....Biscuit Girl is intrigued. Was is something he bought at the store? Was it something I could blog about? I asked him what it was and he said I'd just have to wait until he picked me up at 5.

It's a good thing we were busy at the library because I completely forgot about this mysterious surprise. Biscuit Boy picked me up at 5 and pointed the car in the direction of our favorite sushi bar, Kotobuki. Yes, I know, we had a fridge full of freshly purchased food and what do we do? Go out to eat. But we had already planned on getting sushi the day before. The fresh veggies would be enough to get us through the week.

It was about halfway to Kotobuki that I remembered to ask about the surprise. Biscuit Boy asked me if I really wanted to know now or wait until we got home. Well, duh! Tell me now! He chuckled and said he bought green mango.
*crickets chirping*
I looked as surprised as I could. Green mango, huh? Oh, that's nice dear.

I guess he saw that I wasn't as pleased with this as he was so he said he was going to try to make his version of a salad we get at our favorite Thai place, Rabieng. Only theirs is made with papaya.

Ok, so my interest was piqued. After we got home from dinner (and one of these days I will remember to bring the camera to Kotobuki), Biscuit Boy began researching recipes. I've added his version below this post. And this is what it looked like. Thanks to his new mandolin slicer, the mango was sliced into nice little matchstick strips. It looked as good as what we've gotten in Rabeing. And the taste was great. Slightly tart from the green mango and lime juice; slighty spicy from the red chili. Yum. We each had a bowl with our dinner. None was left over but we will be making this again, soon. The only change would be the addition of some cilantro and shredded carrot and maybe some seafood like shrimp or scallops.

Thai Green Mango Salad*

1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 large green mango, sliced into thin matchstick slices
1 Red Finger hot pepper, thinly sliced on an angle
(or other hot red pepper)
3 tbsp. Thai fish sauce
3 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
1 small clove garlic, minced
6 lettuce leaves
2 tbsp. chopped roasted peanuts

Place the mango and shallot in a large bowl and mix together.

In a small bowl, mix the hot pepper, fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar, sugar and garlic. Mix until the sugar dissolves.

Pour the dressing over the mango mixture and blend, using your hands until well incorporated. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

To serve, place a lettuce leaf on a plate or in a small bowl. Place a mound of salad in the lettuce leaf and sprinkle with peanuts.

*This is the recipe as originally made and seen in the pictures above. You could add the following if you like.
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrot
12 small cooked and peeled shrimp
or 12 small cooked sea scallops (or both)