Spicy Thai Mango Salad For A Tongue Numbing Experience

Thai Mango Salad 3

Thai Mango Salad 1

I finally had a chance to try out authentically impressive Thai food at the Golden Mile Complex some time back in December. The restaurant was called ‘Na Na Thai Food‘, located at the first level of the complex. The basil fried rice with pork was spicy and juicy; the Thai iced tea was refreshing and fragrant; the Thai mango salad was extremely appetising; it was spicy, sweet and sour all at the same time. The gravy in this salad was also all-out-fiery. Yet it didn’t stop me from trying to slurp up everything, rendering a burning sensation in my tongue after the meal.

Here is my home-made version of the Thai mango salad, adapted from a couple of recipes but based mainly on the one that lingers in my taste buds.

Ingredients:

  • Thai green mango: 1 kg (about 4), shredded into strips
  • Red onion: 3, sliced
  • Thai dried shrimps (picture below): 60g
  • Fish sauce: 9 tbsp
  • Fresh lime juice: squeezed from 10 small limes, seeds discarded
  • Palm sugar: 6 tbsp
  • Bird’s eye chilli: 10, finely chopped
  • Ground peanut powder: 3 tbsp
  • Coriander: 1 stalk, chopped (to garnish)

Method:

  1. Place mango, onions and shrimps in a mixing bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl, add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chillies.
  3. Stir well to mix and dissolve sugar.
  4. Add sauce into mango mixture. Toss to coat evenly.
  5. Sprinkle with ground peanut powder. Then garnish with coriander to serve.

Thai Mango Salad 2

Tricks:

  • Make sure to use authentic Thai green mangoes for the salad; the harder they are the better. Unripe mangoes of other origins could be used as a substitute, but they may not give the same subtly acidic and raw fresh taste as the Thai ones.
  • Get the Thai dried shrimps (picture below) for the salad from the Thai supermarket at the Golden Mile Complex. These shrimps are crunchy and fragrant, adding a punch to each bite of the salad.

Thai Mango Salad Dried Shrimps

Disclaimers:

  • There are many variations of Thai salad even within one Thai restaurant itself.
  • Make your own version according to your likes and dislikes. I do know of variations that include basil and mint leaves, as well as green onions and shallots. For me, I substituted crushed peanuts with ground peanut powder and increased the proportion of onions, chillies and coriander, all of which are ingredients that I love.
  • The really authentic version is prepared by pounding the chillies, shrimps and sauces together with a pestle and mortar to up the level of spiciness. I jumped this step and went straight to mixing them together instead.

Serving:
7 – 8 persons (as appetiser)

Fiery rating:
👿 👿 👿 👿 👿

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2 Responses to Spicy Thai Mango Salad For A Tongue Numbing Experience

  1. Gina says:

    Love those little dried shrimp, they’re addictive, right? Thanks for the great recipe! I’ll be sure to put my mandolin to good use with those mangos 🙂

  2. cllism says:

    Thanks for your comments Gina! Good to know you have a mandolin slicer to help you with the grating 🙂

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