With summer's rich bounty of fruits, the onus is on me to dream up new ways to use the fruit. Munching on them alone is fine, but some fruits, like mangoes, beg to be gussied up. Per Nick's request, it's usually in the form of mango chicken — a quick stir-fry of chicken, onions and garlic, topped off with mangoes, cilantro and lime juice, served over jasmine rice. But it's hot. Dreadfully so. And so, along the lines of sweating out the heat with heat, I bring you Thai mango salsa. We had it with chips before a meal, but it would also be great over simple grilled fish, chicken, pork or steak (did I leave anything out?).
I normally stick to my tried-and-true system — adding jalapeno, red onion, lime juice and cilantro to a fruit (cantaloupe, honeydew, peaches, almost anything). But with Thai basil flourishing (the only thing flourishing) in the backyard and soon-to-be soft Thai chilies in the fridge, I headed east.
Thai mango salsa
2 fresh mangoes, diced*
1 red Thai chili, sliced very thin**
3 stalks of Thai basil
1/4 of medium red onion, diced
juice of 1 lime
salt
Pull the leaves from the Thai basil stalks and give them a rough chop. Combine mango, chili, Thai basil leaves, onion and lime juice in a bowl. Add a pinch (or two) of salt to taste. Best to let sit around in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors can get to know one another.
*Elise, from Simply Recipes has a great post about how to cut a mango if you're unfamiliar.
** I used one Thai chili and would've been happy with a bit more heat. Some folks in my family found it almost too hot with just one chili. Ditching the seeds will decrease the heat as well.