Sweet, Salty, Sour & Spicy
it’s what summer dreams are made of ✨
If you enjoy the flavors of Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum) this simplified variation is for you!
The base of this salad is made up of crunchy summer cucs, juicy ripe mango and mildly piquant red onion – *that’s it* — the party, my friends, happens in the dressing!
A refreshing & zingy lime infused emulsion with fish sauce, cilantro and bird’s eye chili that delivers big tangy umami notes with just the right contrast of heat and sweet ~ the vibrant flavors and contrasting textures will delight you.
Make the dressing ahead and voilà a super simple yet impressively tasty summer appetizer or side in a snap
With optional toppings like chopped peanuts, sesame seeds & fresh herbs you can fancy this salad up if you like or just keep it as simple (and delicious) as it is. Your choice! enjoy.
- For the Thai Dressing:
- 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce or vegan alternative
- 2 tsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced (i use 2, we like garlic)
- 1 Thai chili pepper (Bird's eye chili), stemmed, sliced lengthwise, partially seeded and finely chopped*
- 1 Tbsp cilantro, finely chopped + more for garnish
- 1 Tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
- For the Cucumber Mango Salad:
- 2 organic English cucumbers, washed & sliced (i leave skin on)
- 1 large ripe and juicy mango, peeled & diced (ish)
- ⅓ (or so) medium sized red onion, thin sliced
- *Thai Chili Peppers are hot (50K+ Scoville Scale) -- i like to partially seed -- if you are unfamiliar and/or prefer something milder, serrano or jalapeño pepper (use half) would work fine here -- you could also just use ½-1 tsp red chili pepper flakes to preference or skip the heat all together.
- For the Thai Dressing: in a small jar (with fitted lid), combine: lime juice, fish sauce (or alternate), tamari or soy, sesame oil, garlic, pepper of choice, cilantro and sugar - replace lid and shake well, store in fridge until ready to use.
- For the Salad: place the sliced cucumber, mango and red onion in a serving bowl and toss gently to combine taking care not to mash the mango.
- When you're ready to serve, give the Thai dressing another good shake before pouring over salad -- mix to combine and add any optional garnishes for service: fresh cilantro, fine chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, etc.
- Dressing Make-Ahead: make the Thai Dressing ahead of time and simply store in an airtight container in fridge (I would leave out the fresh cilantro until day of, otherwise all the other elements will do just fine for a couple days in fridge). You could also probably get away with prepping the cucs, mango and onion up to 1 day ahead or morning of - stored in separate airtight containers in the fridge.
- enjoy!
I know I would love this salad, but I’d have to lose the chilies. Just love the colours too.
Guess what? Tonight we had this salad for the second time!!!! First time around the mangos I bought at the store were……. rotten. So I improvised and used tomatoes instead, what else could I do, right?
a friend of mine gifted us three AMAZING mangos today and I re-visited the salad – we don’t eat onions, but I used radishes, and WOW, the dressing is just amazing!!!!!
Thank you so so much!
woah, that’s so cool Sally, thrilled you enjoyed the zingy pleasure-dome dressing :D — haha — thanks for letting me know how things turned out; great sub with the radish btw👌
This sounds like a great summer salad and mangos that are perfectly ripe are in the stores now.
indeed, thanks Karen!