Burmese green mango salad

I love it when a salad comes together beautifully. This tart green mango salad, with fresh greens and a light dressing with caramelized onions, is perfect. This super simple salad is essentially an assembly job guaranteed to please any crowd. The salad plays with the flavours of sour green mangoes, which are brought alive with the sliced green chillies, fried onions, and peanuts that are traditional to most salads from Burma. A few drops of fish sauce and fried onion oil add subtle flavours that complete the salad. This is a salad that I could eat by the bowl and is the perfect start for any dinner.

This simple recipe is from the famed restaurant in San Francisco. One of the advantages of cataloging my library on this site is that now I have visibility to some of these fabulous cookbooks. Burma Superstar is a fabulous restaurant, one that I have enjoyed many a meal at, and this recipe is no exception. The recipes are authentic, vibrant, and delicious—it is literally like bringing the restaurant home. This is a wonderful cookbook for Burmese cuisine.

For more recipes from this wonderful cookbook, click here.

1 small green mango, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks

1 small romaine lettuce, thinly sliced

1 cup shredded cabbage

1 thinly sliced cucumber

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced and soaked in water for 1/2 hour, drained and dried

4 tablespoons cilantro, minced

2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped or left whole

2 tablespoons green chillies, sliced into thin circles

1 1/2 teaspoons chickpea (besan) flour, lightly toasted

A few drops of fish sauce (avoid for the vegan version)

salt, to taste

1 lime cut into wedges

1 large onion, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons oil

Start by making the fried onions. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat and fry the onions until they are medium golden, about 10 minutes. Remove and put into a bowl, collecting the oil for use in the dressing. Set aside.

Mix all the other ingredients except lime wedges in a bowl, tossing well. Set aside till needed.

To serve, add the salad to a deep bowl. Top with the fried onions, making sure to get the oil. Bring to the table and squeeze in 1/2 a lime. Toss well at the table and serve. Have extra lime wedges for those who like a more tart flavour.