Since it’s mango season, I’m sharing another delicious anti-inflammatory mango recipe, Thai Mango Salad using green mango. I just posted a healthy mango tart dessert recipe recently, you can check it here. This recipe originated from my mother, who is a cook herself and she used to make this tasty mango salad a lot at home.
Make Thai mango salad with me!
We used to have a huge mango tree in my family’s front yard, and whenever it gave fruits, it was abundant. During this time, my mother would make this mango salad on repeat. As a kid who would always skip salad, this mango salad had won my heart no matter how many times she made it.
About this Thai mango salad recipe
This recipe is very easy to make, you just need basic cutting skills and a love for sweet, sour, and maybe a bit of spicy tolerance. Not much, but a little. But if you are not a fan of spicy salad, feel free to omit the chili.
For this recipe, my mother always suggests using green mango that is in its prime age, and by this, she means in between young and ripe. She said this age of mango is not too sour and not too soft either, but solid enough to give the salad some texture (Check my tips for choosing mango below).
Other ingredients include baby heirloom tomatoes, shallots, coriander leaves and ginger torch – an underrated asian anti-inflammatory herbal flower (Read more about this flower below).
These mixed slaws are minimally seasoned with only natural ingredients which are freshly squeezed lime juice, tamarind paste and all-natural red boat fish sauce (the extra-virgin of fish sauce).
Common Thai mango salad recipes use peanuts, but I swap peanuts for almonds in this recipe because I like the almonds taste better. Plus, they contain more healthy fat, calcium and antioxidant properties.
My Thai mango salad recipe is made with anti-inflammatory ingredients.
Not all salads are made as healthy as they appear. Many Asian salads contain additional sugar and high levels of sodium. The best salads are the ones with anti-inflammatory ingredients while still being tasty. Sometimes, achieving those two can be challenging but that is not the case for this mango salad recipe. this salad is made healthy with ingredients that are high anti-inflammatory and antioxidant such as:
- Mango
- Torch ginger flower
- Coriander
- Tomatoes
- Tamarind
- Lime juice
- Almonds
- Natural fish sauce – May have anti-inflammatory properties.
Ingredient notes and substitute to make this mango salad
Mango
As I mentioned about mango above, the best mango to make authentic Thai mango salad is, in between ripe and unripe. Ripe mangoes tend to be too soft and make it watery and too sweet (unless you prefer it this way). On the other hand, depending on the type of mango, most mangoes that are unripe and hard tend to be too sour. So try to avoid the sour ones. You can check with the seller about this since not every type of mango is the same.
💡 Tip: To determine whether the mango is good for this recipe, check the one in green color and slightly press it with your finger. It should be hard but not stone-hard. If it easily dents, meaning it’s overripe.
How to slice the mango for mango salad – Here’s a simple guide
- If you have a huge mango like this, rotate it horizontally and run it through with a knife multiple times. Make sure it goes deep until your knife almost reaching the seed.
2. Now rotate your knife and cut the surface of the mango bit by bit.
Substitute for mango – This salad works well with young papaya, too.
Torch Ginger Flower
This herb is native to some countries in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Where I’m from, it’s often used in raw salad recipes for aromatic purposes. This flower is a part of the ginger family and contains high anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
This ingredient might be the only one that is not globally accessible. If you can’t find this, you may skip the ingredient. But if you can, this exotic piquant herb is worth the try!
Tamarind
Another ingredient that is packed with anti-inflammatory agents and vitamins. Tamarind adds sourness and acidic taste to foods. This helps to balance the sweetness of the mango.
Substitute for tamarind – Natural white vinegar.
Fish sauce
I’m not sure if you have ever tried Thai food or Vietnamese food, but if you do, this sauce plays a huge role in the tastiness.
Fish sauce is a common staple in Thai food. Putting too much gives you a fishy taste and can be too salty. But with enough amount and good quality natural sauce, it could substitute salt and at the same time give extra natural flavor or umami taste to your salad.
I use this Red Boat fish sauce for most recipes that call for fish sauce. It is derived from wild-caught black anchovies from an island in Vietnam, fermented and extracted in a traditional way without any preservatives, MSG, or harmful chemical ingredients.
I cannot have many condiments due to my inflammatory condition, but this sauce is a keeper due to its authenticity. I know that because this condiment did not cause my psoriasis to flair or my arthritis to inflamed.
However, this is just a general sharing. I am not sure how beneficial this brand of sauce would be in terms of nutrition, but a high-quality fish sauce does contain many health benefits such as high in omega 3, contain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and it has good amount of iron.
💡 Do you know that: Fish sauce was invented by the ancient Greeks in the 4th–3rd century BC. It’s called garum and was widely used as a condiment in ancient Rome.
My husband doesn’t eat fish, but he could barely notice the fish taste in this recipe. Do note that although it is a good quality sauce, it still contains sodium, so try not to overdo it.
Substitute for fish sauce – Salt.
Frequently asked questions
Can you keep this Thai mango salad in the fridge?
Yes, you can. Mango salad tastes better the next day after being in the fridge. Make sure you place them in a container with a tight cover. Depending on how ripe your mango is, the more unripe it is, the longer you can keep it. But I suggest not more than 3 days.
What to eat this mango salad with?
This mango salad is a perfect side dish with any other main dishes. Just because it’s a Thai food, doesn’t mean you can pair it only with Thai foods. I personally like to eat this salad with this steamed fish with garlic, ginger and lime juice. For other Thai recipes you can check below. Due to the burst of flavor in this mango salad, it will be great with some food with a less strong taste.
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Thai Mango Salad
4
pax15
minutes0
minutes15
minutesDelicious mango salad combines half-ripe mango, tomato, shallot, coriander, roasted almonds and torched ginger flower, seasoned with all-natural fish sauce, lime juice and tamarind. This Thai salad is a perfect side dish for any meal.
Ingredients
Green unripe sweet mango – This recipe makes around 450g of mango after cutting.
5 shallots – thinly sliced
1-2 bird’s eye chili or red chili – thinly sliced
1 stalk of torch ginger flower
3 stalks of coriander leaves – chopped
5-7 heirloom cherry tomatoes – cut into small wedges
1 and 1/2 tbsp of pure & all-natural fish sauce
1 tbsp of tamarind paste
Juice from 2 limes – about 3-4 tbsp
1/2 a cup of roasted chopped almond or nuts of your choice
Directions
- Skin the mango and slice them into thin strips or Julienne cut. Check the photo below for reference. Add the slices into a big salad bowl. Make sure it’s bigger than the amount of your salad because you need to mix them later on.
- Add sliced shallots, chili, and cherry tomatoes into the bowl
- For the torch ginger flower, we’re using the flower part only, so remove the stalk if you bought it with the stalk. Cut the big in half and slice them thin. Add to the bowl
- Add crushed roasted almonds into the bowl. If you bought raw almonds, chop them with a knife and pop them into the pre-heated oven under 150C for 8 minutes.
- Add tamarind paste and lime juice into the salad bowl and mix them thoroughly. I use my hand with a glove so I can gently squeeze and mix them better.
Recipe Video
🥣 Did you try this recipe? Let me know your thoughts in the comment below.
