Mangoes have hit town rather late this year and you can find a wide variety of mangoes in different supermarkets these days. These, juicy, tangy, seasonal fruit are suited for a range of recipes, if you want to go a step beyond relishing the golden fruit as it is. Here are a few recipes to try out with this delightful tropical fruit:

 

Mango Chicken Skewers

Ingredients

500g chicken breasts – cut to chunks

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup mango nectar

¼ cup barbecue sauce

¼tsp red chilli flakes

1tsp sesame oil

Method

Cut the chicken to chunks, rinse and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste. In a bowl, combine mango nectar, barbecue sauce, and chilli flakes. Stir well and add chicken chunks. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. When ready to grill, drain from marinade, reserving liquid. In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer mango nectar-barbecue marinade for about 20 minutes or until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Add sesame oil and stir to combine. Set aside. Then, thread 2 to 3 chicken slices into each skewer and grill on a hot grill for about 2 to 3 minutes each side. When the meat starts to lose its pink, baste with sweet mango mixture. Continue to grill and baste, turning on sides, until cooked through. Remove and serve hot.

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Mango Salsa

Ingredients

1 mango – peeled and cut to small chunks

 

1 red bell pepper – diced

1 red onion – diced

2-3 jalapenos – diced

2 sprigs of cilantro – chopped

2tsp lemon juice

A pinch of salt

 

Method

Making mango salsa is so easy and only requires a few simple steps. Prep all the ingredients by chopping them up suitably. Make sure not to have large chunks as this will transform a salsa into a salad. Finely dice the bell pepper, jalapeno, and onion as you don’t need large bits of these in a salsa. Remove jalapeno seeds if you don’t like the extra heat. In a large bowl, combine the mango, red pepper, onion, jalapeno and cilantro, add a pinch of salt, and the lemon juice. Toss all ingredients well. Chill and serve.

 

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Beef and Mango Salad

1. Ingredients:

2 striploin or sirloin steaks

1. For the marinade

3tbsp fish sauce

1tbsp soy sauce

2 stalks of lemongrass

1 red chilli

3 cloves of garlic

Juice of half a lime

1tbsp dark brown sugar

1. For the dressing:

3tbsp fish sauce

1tbsp rice wine vinegar

Juice of half a lime

1tbsp dark brown sugar

1 clove of garlic

½ a shallot

1 red chilli

1. For the salad

1 portion of rice noodles

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 small carrot – julienned

1 cucumber – julienned or sliced thin

A handful of beansprouts

2bsp chopped coriander/mint/basil

1. Method

Trim the steak of fat and slice it thinly. Next blitz all of the ingredients for the marinade in a mini processor or pound with a mortar and pestle. Put the beef into a ziploc bag and pour over the marinade. Keep it in the fridge for a few hours or leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes. Bring it back up to room temperature before cooking.

Next make your dressing to allow time for the flavours to develop. Mix the wet ingredients and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Crush the clove of garlic and finely chop the chilli and shallot and add them to the rest of the ingredients and set aside.

Then, prepare the mango and vegetables for the salad and cook the rice noodles as per packet instructions. Remove the beef from the marinade and stir fry quickly over a high heat. Dress the noodles while still warm in half of the dressing which will allow them to absorb the flavours better. Place the noodles onto a plate and top with the veg , the herbs and the beef and pour over the rest of the dressing. Gently toss the salad and top with chopped peanuts for crunch. Serve immediately.

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Sticky Rice with Fresh Mango

Ingredients

For the rice:

2 cups Thai sticky rice

2 cans coconut milk

150g sugar

½ cup sugar

1tsp salt

 

For the toppings

200 ml coconut cream 

⅓ tsp salt 

1 sweet alphonso mango

100g yellow mung beans

 

Method

Rinse the sticky rice well, soak in water for two hours, then steam the rice for about 15 minutes until fully cooked. Set aside.

In a pot, add coconut milk on medium heat, and stir in one circular direction gentry. Add sugar and salt, and keep stirring and cooking until fully dissolved. When the coconut cream mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat.

Put the fresh sticky rice into a mixing bowl, and begin to slowly add in the coconut cream and sugar mixture. Combine all of it, but add it spoon by spoon and work it slowly into the rice. Once all combined you should be left with shimmering sticky rice that is like a grainy pudding in texture. 

In a separate sauce pan, add the coconut cream and salt, and stir on low heat. Bring it to a boil, then turn off the heat, and set aside in a bowl. This will be served as a topping.

In a frying pan, using low heat, dry fry the yellow mung beans for a few minutes until they turn golden and crispy. Set aside as a topping.

Peel the mango and cut into neat slices or chunks. On a plate, first add a portion of sticky rice, top it with mango, sprinkle on some mung beans, and serve the extra coconut cream on the side.