Simple & Delicious Thai Mango Salad – Yum Ma Muang
Today, I want to introduce to you another salad dish made from a mildly sour raw fruit. In Thailand, Thai Mango Salad, also known as, Yam Ma Muang, is eaten as an appetizer or as a snack. It has an addictive taste and texture – it is neither overly sour nor overly spicy. The perfect blend of sour, sweet, salty and spicy makes it very irresistible to many.
The mango, known as “chokanan” in Thai, is very light and mildly sour mango. It is perfect for light salads and can be eaten on its own with this perfect dip. When it is ripened naturally, it becomes very sweet. When this happens, it makes the perfect dessert – the Thai Mango Sticky Rice (link).
Feeling hungry now? Let’s have this for our appetizer before we talk about dessert 😉
Thai Green Mango Salad Recipe
Prepare the Ingredients
As with most fruits, remove the skin of the mangoes using a peeler. An alternative tool that can be used to peel the mangoes is a sharp knife. Take care not to cut too deep or too fast. Go slowly and carefully.
Then, with a sharp knife, carefully slice the mangoes. Keep slicing, avoiding the core/seed of the mango. You will get a lot of mango slices.
Next, stack the mango slices and cut vertically to get thin mango strips. These mango strips will be the main ingredient of the Thai Mango Salad.
Next, chop the chillis into small pieces. The amount to be used can be adjusted according to your spicy tolerance.
Peel and slice the shallots horizontally to get pretty, thin slices. Set them aside. The shallots will provide an extra kick to each bite.
Prepare the dried shrimps. For this dish, the dried shrimps should be as fine as possible. Clean the shrimps by rinsing them in hot water. Drain all the water and add it to the food processor. The shrimps do not need to be dry beforehand. Process the dried shrimps until they become almost powder-like. It can also be pounded with a pestle and mortar. The shrimp lends a savoury profile to the Thai Mango Salad. More of these helps to give an extra oomph to the dish.
Now comes the fun part 🙂
Taste the mangoes to ascertain their sourness. The mangoes should be slightly sour. Mine was mildly sour – the taste is not tangy like citrus and it is also not sharp like sour pineapple or vinegar. However, if your mangoes are tangy or citrusy, you may want to add more sugar to balance it out.
Assembling the Thai Mango Salad
Add the mango strips to a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt and a little bit of the chopped chilli. Break the sliced shallots lightly to pieces and add them to the bowl. Add the roasted peanuts and fish sauce.
Lastly, add three-quarters of the processed shrimp. The shrimp should be added last to avoid it from being soaked with the water released from the mangoes and fish sauce. Mix it lightly to coat the mango strips evenly.
Serving the Thai Mango Salad
Transfer the mango salad to a serving plate. Drizzle the rest of the processed shrimp onto the Thai Mango Salad. Serve immediately.
It cannot be kept for later consumption because its appearance will not be as appetizing. For advance preparation, make and keep the condiments and mango strips in the fridge, separately. Assemble just before consumption.
This Thai Mango Salad recipe is so easy and effortless to make that I often make it unplanned! If the mango is available, I’d have it in the morning (after breakfast), tea time or even for supper (hehe)!
Thai Mango Salad
Equipment
- Fruit Peeler
- Sharp Kitchen Knife
- Food Processor / Pestle and Mortar
- Large Spoon
Ingredients
- 2 green, unripe mangoes, chokanan
- 5 bulbs shallots
- 1 tbsp dried shrimps
- 2 tbsp peanuts, roasted in air fryer for 160°C for 8 minutes
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1½ tbsp fish sauce, Tiparos brand, adjust accordingly to taste
- 5 mix of fresh red and green bird's eye chilli
Instructions
Preparation
- Using a peeler, remove the skin of the mangoes.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the mango vertically, until the core/seed of the mango is reached. Turn the mango to the other side and repeat.
- Stack ¼ of the mango slices, and slice them vertically, about 0.3cm to 0.5cm thick. Repeat for all the mango slices.
- Chop the red chilli and green chilli to small pieces. Set aside.
- Slice the shallots. Set aside.
- Rinse the dry prawns with hot water, and drain the water.
- Add the prawns to the food processor. Process the dry prawns until it becomes a fine powder. Alternatively, a pestle and mortar can be used to mash the prawns, in place of a food processor.
Assembly
- Add the mango in a large mixing bowl.
- Taste the mango to determine its sourness. The more intense the tang/sourness, the more sugar is added.
- Add sugar and salt.
- Add ¼ of chopped chilli to control the spiciness.
- Using fingers, break the shallots before adding to the bowl.
- Add fish sauce, roasted ground nuts and ¾ of the processed dry prawns.
- Mix with a large spoon until well-combined.
- Taste the mango salad. Adjust the taste as desired:<ul><li>Lack of spiciness: add 1 tsp of chopped chilli</li><li>Lack of sweetness: add 1 tsp of sugar</li><li>Lack of saltiness: add 1 tsp of fish sauce.</li></ul>
- Mix with a large spoon once again, until well-combined.
- Serve in a shallow plate.
- Garnish with roasted peanuts and all the processed dry prawns.
Video
Notes
- A pestle and mortar can be used to crush the prawns to smaller pieces in place of a food processor.
- The peanuts can be roasted in the oven, or toasted in a wok on low heat.
- The amount of salt, sugar and chilli used can be altered according to your desired taste. The amounts also depends on the tanginess of the mangoes.