Vietnamese green mango salad with barbecued chicken – a bright, zesty, crunchy slaw and spicy turmeric grilled chicken. Great served with steamed rice.  Jump to Recipe 

It is currently 6:45am as I sit at my desk typing this blog post. I ran out of time earlier this week, with university work going full steam ahead though the gastrointestinal system, and with the weekend taken up, this morning was my only option. Today, three hours of lectures start at 9am, followed by a 3.5 hour PBL (problem-based learning) discussion session. Our college floor retreat starts tonight, so as soon as uni finishes I am road-tripping with four others from my floor, in my cute little car, down to Torquay for the night.  Needless to say, I will be keeping this short and let the photos do the talking!

This green mango salad is definitely a family favourite – we probably had it at least once a week over the summer, and my brothers love it as well. It is adapted from a Nadia Lim recipe, while the chicken and the salad dressing are recipes from Ms Vy’s ‘Taste Vietnam’, the Morning Glory Cookbook – one we bought in Vietnam 5 years ago after loving a cooking class we went to at the Morning Glory Cooking School in Hoi An. Run by Ms. Vy, we visited the daily markets (where the Vietnamese ordinarily go before every meal to ensure food is as fresh as possible), and then made all our own food as Ms Vy demonstrated up the front. It was the starting point for my love of the fresh, sharp flavours of Vietnamese food which I have sought out at various restaurants since. Part of the difficulty in making authentic vietnamese in NZ is the lack of some ingredients: though some you can find at the Asian markets, like fresh turmeric and crispy fried shallots, many, like banana-flower, I have never seen sold. Below is a shot of the Hoi An Markets from when we were in Vietnamese- the freshness and range of greens was incredible!

Though it is a ‘green mango’ salad, I can hardly ever find truly green mango in Auckland, so tend to use slightly underripe mango from the fruit & vege shop (see the colour of the mango in the photos). I actually prefer the sweetness of it being slightly more ripe, to contrast with the herbs and lime-fish sauce dressing, but if you prefer the crunch and tang of green mango that would work well too. In terms of slicing the mango, I use a special mango slicer that we were given at the cooking school in Vietnam, but you could mimic it by cutting through the mango longitudinally at even 1-2cm intervals, then using a thick vegetable peeler to cut slices off. If your mango is firm enough, you could also try using a julienne peeler, or simply use a knife to cut slices and then cut those into thinner strips.

The chicken is some of the best barbecued chicken I have ever had so please don’t let the ingredient list scare you – it actually doesn’t take long to mix together. As for the salad, the contrasting flavours and textures of the mango and fresh, sharp mint, vietnamese mint, and coriander with the sesame seeds, peanuts and crispy fried shallots, make it light and healthy but absolutely addictively good.

The herbs are essential to the salad: coriander and mint are easy to find, but Vietnamese mint could be 
a bit trickier – you may have to visit a specialty store or markets to find it. It is also very easy to grow, which is a much cheaper and easier option if you have room!

We normally serve this meal with steamed rice on the side.

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