I am no expert when it comes to selecting the perfect mango or even knowing the difference between varieties. I eat any mango I get -raw or ripe- and savour it no matter what. I know that we don't get the gorgeous Indian ones here, but it doesn't seem to bother us and since I don't particularly crave for it, anything works....
..except this one time I was at the Chinese store and they had raw mangoes which I couldn't resist. I wanted to have mango chammanthi (chutney) and rice....yummm! Came back home with one green mango and was busy googling for easy recipes. Found one and when I cut into it, it was actually not that raw....and I realized it wouldn't be nice as a chutney. So what do I do, cut it up, take some salt, start dipping and eating like one mad woman who's been mango deprived. I even called up Ro while eating to say I was sorry he couldn't devour the raw mango and salt. His exact words were...'I hope you get sick after eating all that..' I laughed it off then, but after I ate the entire mango, boy did I feel sick..drinking water didn't help and the entire evening was spent with a horrid stomach ache and blaming Ro for jinxing me :O
I thought the mango mania for this season was over after that episode, but no. A couple of days later we'd invited some friends over for brunch and I decided to try out a mango salsa recipe my cousin Miri had posted on her blog long back. It turned out extremely nice, that I had to try it out again. So I got around to making it a couple of days back and even managed a few pics. It pairs well with meat dishes, filling for tacos or even better on its own as a salad kinda thing. I have adapted her recipe more or less, with a few tweaks here and there. Enjoy!
Mango- 1 large or about 2 cups, peeled and cut into cubes
Tomato- half of one large, cut into small pieces
English shallot- 1, thinly sliced
Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Celery- 1 tbsp, finely chopped (optional)
Green chilli- 1 small, finely chopped (de seeded if you cant handle the heat)
Lime juice- a few drops (I was pretty generous with this)
Salt- to taste
It cant get easier than this...mix all the ingredients together in a salad bowl.
Add lime juice and salt as per requirement, toss again and place it in the refrigerator covered until you use it.
Toss again just before serving.
You can choose to serve in individual glasses (if you want to go all fancy) or in the salad bowl itself.
Notes: A Thai option would be to add some fish sauce, grated ginger and basil and top with some chopped peanuts.
Sending this to Reva of Kaarasaaram who is hosting this months Healing foods: Mango event, brain child of Siri.
