Green Mango and Cashew Salad

Each bite is packed with explosions of tart, sweet, salty, and spicy shards of mango and roasted cashews with aromatic fresh lime juice. This Thai salad (yum) is a quintessential example of the Thai balance of tastes: umami -filled salty fish sauce, rich palm sugar, and sour mangos. If you can’t get your hands on some unripe mangos, try some other fruits, such as green apples, unripe papaya, or even pineapple, but make sure to adjust your seasoning to match the fruit you select. Lately I have been adding pan-roasted shavings of fresh coconut to the salad.

Serves 4–6
 Preparation time: 12 mins

2 cloves smashed garlic

8 thin slices ginger

2–4 Thai chilies

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon Thai palm sugar or light brown sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

Pinch of sea salt or kosher salt

¼ cup (25 g) thinly sliced shallots

2–3 large unripe mangos or 4-5 small mangos (about 4 lb/1.5 kg), peeled, seed removed and cut into matchstick strips to yield 6 cups (1.25 kg)

2 tablespoons finely sliced kaffir lime leaves (about 6 leaves) or 1 teaspoon minced lime zest

¼ cup (10 g) roughly chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

¼ cup (40 g) crushed or chopped toasted cashews

1 Pound the garlic, ginger and chilies using a mortar and pestle, or pulse in a processor until it forms a coarse paste. Add the lime-juice, sugar, fish sauce, and salt. Mix until the sugar is dissolved. While massaging gently, rinse the shallots under cool running water for 15 seconds—this will reduce the raw flavor, set aside. Use this dressing to coat the shallots, mangos, kaffir lime leaves, and coriander leaves.

2 Take a big bite of the coated mango and adjust seasoning with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and salt.

3 Spoon onto serving bowl and sprinkle with the chopped cashews.

Marinated Cucumber, Ginger and Thai Basil

In Thailand, every time I order a grilled satay, it comes with the pickled cucumber or achat, and I am left wanting more. This easy to make tangy cucumber salad stands on its own as a side dish to a meal or I find it makes a wonderful complement to a grilled piece of fish, add some steamed rice and you’ll have a light meal.

Serves 4–6
 Preparation time: 10 mins + resting time

2 cups (250 g) cucumber strips, (the kirby variety preferred)

½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1 medium shallot, halved and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons rice vinegar (unseasoned)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon very thin strips of fresh ginger

1 red finger-length chili, thinly sliced

¼ cup (10 g) Thai basil leaves, cut into fine strips

1 Toss the cucumbers strips in with the salt and place in a colander to drain. Let it rest for 30 minutes (don’t rinse). Squeeze out any excess moisture by squeezing the cucumbers with a towel.

2 While massaging gently, rinse the shallots under cool running water for 15 seconds— this will reduce the raw flavor, set aside.

3 Meanwhile, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, and fish sauce in a medium bowl. Fold in the salted cucumbers, shallots, ginger, chili, and basil. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and/or sugar.

1 Cut the cucumbers lengthwise, creating sticks with angular ends

2 Fold in the cucumbers, shallots, ginger, chili and basil.