Mango Salad with Fried Fish
Here’s a variation of the Thai Mango Salad, served with deep-fried fish fillets. It’s soft and tender, slightly salty, a perfect match with the crisp, sweet-sour with a mild spicy bite and deep umami flavour.
The Thai people enjoy having sweet-sour, salty and spicy salads with deep-fried anything and everything. The Thai Mango Salad gives a huge boost to the appetite, making each bite of fish fillet super enjoyable.
Serves 4 adults.
What is Mango Salad with Fried Fish?
This dish is called Pla Tod Yam Ma Muang. “Pla Tod” refers to “fried fish”, while “Yam Ma Muang” refers to the Mango (mixed in) Salad.
While I have other recipes using the whole fish, this recipe is for those who dislike bones in their fish. I used the fillets from a Sea Grouper, but other white-fleshed fish like sea bass, cod, or tilapia work too.
The Mango Salad, the star of this recipe, is a little more tricky. The mango needs to be unripe – still very green and firm. The strips from the mango should be crunchy and sour, to balance well with the salty, spicy, sweet and umami taste of the seasonings. The mangoes were first peeled, then chopped and sliced to get nice, thick, crunchy strips. The technique is demonstrated and explained in the video. You could also just a julienne peeler, though the strips may be too thin to get a lovely crunch.
Ingredients
- Unripe mango
- Shallots
- Red bird’s eye chillies
- Fish fillets
- Cooking oil
- Egg
- Crispy Flour
- Salt
- Sugar
- Fish sauce
- Roasted Peanuts
- Spring onions
Utensils
- Kitchen knife
- Chopping board
- Peeler
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cup
- Wok
- Wooden Cooking Chopsticks
- Strainer
Tips
- Soaking the dried shrimp in hot water softens them and removes the debris stuck to them.
- Unripe mangoes are a must for this recipe. The flesh should be quite firm, and very sour to balance with the rest of the seasonings.
- When handling the mango, if you’re not confident, a julienne peeler can be used for safety too. Just note that the knife method will make shorter but wider strips than a julienne peeler, which adds to the crunchiness of the mangoes.
- Less chilli can be used for a less spicy mango salad.
- If the egg is small size, 1 whole egg can be used.
- Ensure to watch the video to see exactly how I made it!
Storage Instructions
As this is a Thai salad and a deep-fried dish, I do not recommend keeping it in the fridge or freezing it. The Mango Salad will lose its juiciness and crunchiness over time, while the fish fillets will become tough, soggy and chewy once cooled and re-heated.
However, you can keep the unmixed mango strips in the fridge to chill just before tossing with the rest of the ingredients. This adds a coolness to the mango while chowing down on the spicy seasonings.
As for the 1/2 egg, it can be used in another dish as an omelette or simple fried egg.
Similar Recipes
- Authentic Som Tam – Thai Green Papaya Salad Recipe (Isaarn-Soul Food)
- Simple & Delicious Thai Mango Salad – Yum Ma Muang
- Easy Thai Beef Salad (Larb Neua)
- Easy Crispy Tofu Salad
Mango Salad with Fried Fish
Equipment
- Knife
- Chopping Board
- Peeler
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cup
- Wok
- Wooden Cooking Chopsticks
- Strainer
Ingredients
Fried Fish
- 300 g fish fillet, thawed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 egg, beaten
- 30 g crispy flour
- 10 g crispy flour, optional
Mango Salad
- 20 g dried shrimp
- 150 ml water, hot, to soak dried shrimp
- 10 shallot, peeled and sliced
- 3 birds eye chilli, chopped
- 2 mango, unripe, peeled
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 40 g roasted peanut
- 5 g roasted peanut, for garnishing
- 1 spring onion
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients.
- Soak the dried shrimp in the hot water for about 1-2 minutes. Drain all the water and set the shrimps aside.
- Slice the shallots and red bird's eye chillies thinly and set aside.
- Peel the mango skin with a peeler. With the knife in your dominant hand, make deep cuts into the mango, while slowly turning the mango around with the other hand. Then, bring the knife parallel to the mango, and slice off chunky strips while using your finger to guide the blade. Carefully rotate the mango as you do so, until all the depth of the deep cuts have been reached. Repeat this step until there is no more flesh left, and do it all over again for the next mango.
- Gather all the mango strips into a mixing bowl, and set aside in the fridge to chill.
- Heat the cooking oil in a wok over medium heat.
- Marinate the fish fillets with salt, spreading them evenly.
- Break and whisk an egg, then pour half of it over the fillets. Coat the fish evenly with the egg.
- Sprinkle 30g of the crispy flour over the fish and coat it generously. If it's still a little wet, add about 10g more of the flour and mix until combined.
- Test the cooking oil by dipping wooden cooking chopsticks. When bubbles form at the tip, the oil is ready for deep frying.
- Add the fish fillets one by one. Separate any fillets that are stuck to each other. Deep fry them for about 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip and rotate them every 2-3 minutes for them to be even in colour.
- Remove with a strainer, shaking off excess oil, and rest on a cooling rack.
- Remove the mango strips from the fridge. Add salt, sugar, chilli, shallots, dried shrimp, fish sauce and roasted peanuts. With a gloves hand, toss to mix the ingredients together, squeezing the mango slightly ever so often.
- Taste and adjust.
- Plate both the fish fillets and mango salad on a serving plate. Garnish with roasted peanuts and chopped spring onions, and serve.
Video
Notes
- Soaking the dried shrimp in hot water softens them and removes the debris stuck to them.
- Unripe mangoes are a must for this recipe. The flesh should be quite firm, and very sour to balance with the rest of the seasonings.
- When handling the mango, if you’re not confident, a julienne peeler can be used for safety too. Just note that the knife method will make shorter but wider strips than a julienne peeler, which adds to the crunchiness of the mangoes.
- Less chilli can be used for a less spicy mango salad.
- If the egg is small size, 1 whole egg can be used.
- Ensure to watch the video to see exactly how I made it!