Green Mango Salad

I was in Toronto last week. A most memorable dish was this salad at Happy Thai on West Queen West. (I was the only customer there for a late lunch, so needless to say the service was excellent as well.) I tried duplicating it at home, but my dressing just wasn't the same. It was good though! My recipe for two follows:

Salad

• Green (slightly hard) mango, sliced into fat matchsticks (one small or 1/2 large)
• 1/3 sweet red pepper, also sliced in thin strips
• some red onion, sliced a bit chunky
• crushed peanuts
• whole roasted cashews (ok to use salted)
• cilantro, some chopped fine and some for garnish
• cucumber and orange slice for garnish
• large piece of lettuce for the base
• optional: carrot, sliced into very fine matchsticks

Dressing

• juice of 1/2 lime, or to taste
• 1 tsp Thai fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar dissolved in 2 tsp warm water
• 1/2 tsp spicy toasted sesame oil, or to taste, since this is the source of hot peppers
• 1 tsp pickapeppa (I wanted to get tamarind flavor in there somewhere, since I didn't have any in the house)

Arrange the salad ingredients on the plate, then whisk together the dressing and pour over.

Product endorsement, Mojito Salad recipe

Over the years, I've often wanted to buy a watermelon but didn't simply because I knew there was no room in the refrigerator. I missed it. So I was thrilled when they started selling those seedless "personal watermelons." Shout out to the farmer who developed them! They're also pretty nutritious, packed with Vitamins A and C and less than 50 calories per cup. Here's a way to dress them up and make them part of a meal rather than dessert.

I made this salad last week on a steamy 95 degree day. It's based on a recipe I got from my friend Susan S, but I changed the proportions (and omitted the cucumber because I didn't have one on hand). It made about 3-4 servings. If you use the whole watermelon, you may want to adjust the other ingredients to taste rather than doubling.

Mojito Salad

1/3 c red onion, thinly sliced

juice of 3 limeszest of one lime

1/2 medium jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 Cucumber, peeled and seeded, chopped into 1/3" chunks

1/2 small seedless "personal" watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 lb. Strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise

1/3 c packed fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

3 T vegetable oil (I may leave this out next time)

1-2 T honey

½ t sea salt

1 T light rum

Use a glass bowl. Slice the onion and soak it in lime juice and zest for at least an hour. Chop everything else and add to the bowl. Combine the liquids, whisk, and add to bowl and toss. This salad gets better as it sits and the jicama absorbs the flavors from the dressing. It also gives off a lot of liquid, which you can pour off if it looks too soupy.