Mango Salsa

Tonight, the part of tomato has been replaced by mango.

Sorry, it's 11:00pm and that's the best opener I could come up with at this hour.

Luckily the flavor of this salsa really makes up for my lack of eloquence.


Serve this salsa over fish or chicken.  You can also serve it in those tiny phyllo cups as an appetizer.  Or eat it with a spoon, as I did with leftovers. 

Mango Salsa (or pico de gallo)
makes about 2 cups

1 ripe mango
3 slices from a large red onion
1 baby red pepper (optional)
6-8 sprigs cilantro leaves
Juice from 1/2 lime (about 1 Tbl.)
1 Tbl. olive oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

First admire your mango.   Take note that it is not perfectly round, but slightly flattened. 

Turn mango so the  flat sides are perpendicular (upright) to the cutting board.  Then slice through slightly off the center to avoid the large flat pit that is within.   Do the same on the other side of the pit.

Slice around the pit to get every bit of mango flesh.

As you can see on the lower right of the photo, I further cut around the pit to get more of the juicy bits.  Then take one of the large pieces you first sliced off and make several cuts almost all the way through.

Turn the piece 90 degrees and repeat the cuts.

Press the edges of the piece to flair the mango cubes and flatten the skin.

Then slide knife through to separate the cubes from the skin.

Remember those edges you cut off before?  Slice off the skin from then as well and dice up the pieces.

If the diced cubes aren't small enough, feel free to further chop the pieces into smaller pieces.

The total haul is about 2 cups.  Give or take.

I don't know about your area, but in mine, there is no such thing as a small red onion.  So take a large red onion and thinly cut 3 slices off.  Loosely wrap the rest in wax paper and toss in the veg bin in your fridge.

Finely dice red onion slices and add to the bowl/cup o'mango.

Isn't this the cutest red pepper you've ever seen?  I normally don't like pepper in my mango salsa, but baby red pepper are mild and they add a bit of color to the salsa.  Slice off green top, slice in half, remove seeds and finely chop.

Toss in with the mango and onion or leave it out if even this little bit annoys you. 

Finely chop cilantro and toss in.

Add lime juice, along with salt and pepper.

Don't forget the olive oil!  If you are brave, just pour in a little, otherwise measure out  the stuff as per ingredients list.

Gently stir around a bit, then let sit 30 minutes at room temp for flavors to “marry.”

Use within another 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate up  to 2 days.  I couldn't wait, so I dumped a bit over simple plain broiled salmon.

It's now almost midnight.  Chose your own cutesy-poo caption.  Good-night!