When I was young boy growing up in India, I remember eagerly waiting for the mango season (May to July). There was no greater pleasure in the heat of the summer than to have juicy mangoes after our regular meals. In a way that was the only time I suppose we regularly had something sweet after a meal. But I also remember developing a taste for raw green mangoes. I remember going into neighbour’s garden and throwing stones at the mangoes to get them off the branches and having them just sliced and sprinkled with rock salt. There was this strange sour tangy and crunchy feeling that made this stand out. My grandmother also made a slightly runny chutney in the summer months that I remember. Then since I have come to UK, I had almost forgotten about green mangoes. But in the recent years there has been a steady supply of this little green beauties now available widely. Since we moved to Jersey, CI we have come across a veg supplier (Just Williams) in the Central Market who sources and supplies a lot of Indian, Bangladeshi, Thai and Caribbean products. On one of my recent visits I spotted raw green mangoes and bought a few. With the fist ones I made a red lentil dhal with green mangoes. Then I decided to do something different to the second batch I bought. I came across various recipes on the web for Green Mango Salad (similar to the more popular Green Papaya Salad). The dressings varied from the Thai to the Vietnamese etc, some had shrimp paste in it, some had birds eye chilli, some required pounding and some added garlic. This is my version keeping it as simple as possible.

Ingredients
Raw Green mango = one medium
Carrot = one small
Green Chilli = one or two small one (according to taste)
Coriander leaves = a small handful
Rice Wine Vinegar (or white wine vinegar)= 1 tbsp
Lime = one juiced
Fish Sauce = 1 tbsp
Palm sugar or brown sugar = 1 tbsp
Spring Onion (or a small shallot) = one
Peanuts (optional) = 2 tbsp

Method
Grate the mango and the carrot (make sure that you discard the seed in the middle of the mango). Diagonally slice the Spring onion or thinly slice the shallot. Add the shallot or the spring onion with the green mango and carrot mix. Mix the Lime juice, Fish Sauce, and the Rice wine vinegar. Mix well with the vegetables. Slice the chilli finely (discard the seeds if you don’t want too much heat). Finely chop the coriander. Mix it well with the dressed vegetables. Fry the peanuts and scatter over the salad. Serve immediately. This is great on its own or with some Prawns fried in Garlic scattered on top. It is also a great accompaniment to BBQ or grilled Meat, Chicken or Fish. You can also add basil and / or mint instead of or on top of the coriander and alter some of the other ingredients. The fish sauce can be substituted with Soy Sauce too to make this dish completely vegetarian.