Mango & Rice-Noodle Salad
Mango & Rice-Noodle Salad
I LOVE mangoes, and I tend to make a lot of mango salads this time of year. I used to be addicted to this salad combination, because it was so simple and delicious: baby spinach, mango, and toasted pine nuts, topped with a mango vinaigrette, sea salt, black pepper, and green (or white) onions. So simple!
I don’t like it when recipes are discombobulated. You know, making you do this, then that, then this again. Then add that and this and that again. Too much setting aside, or chilling, or warming, or heating, then boiling, and transferring, then adding and removing. Gets on my nerves.
But I wanted to try this recipe from Vegetarian Times, because it was right up my mango alley. The flavor was wonderful and brilliant. The salad looks gourmet perfect. But the recipe was just too all over the place, like I was a dog in an agility run – backwards. I had too much going on all at once: pans/skillets/colanders. So many side bowls of this and that. Forget it.
I want you to enjoy the flavors, like I did. I want you to get full satisfaction, but I can’t send you through this agility run. My job is to give you only that which gets my seal of approval. So I simplifed it and shazam – Scrumpdilly approved!
Mango & Rice-Noodle Salad (simplified from Vegetarian Times)
Serves 41/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red jalapeño chile, finely chopped8 oz. dried rice-stick noodle
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
1/2 English cucumber, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
1 cup bean sprouts
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, optionalTo prepare dressing, warm brown sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, and jalepeno in saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Let cool while you prepare everything else.
Cook noodles according to package directions. Rinse in cold water, drain, squeeze out, and place in salad bowl.
Toss noodles with basil, mint, and 3/4 of the dressing mixture. Top with cucumber slices, bean sprouts, green onion, and mango. Drizzle with remaining dressing mixture. Sprinkle with cilantro and peanuts.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:41 am
This does look like a summer necessity. All that freshness in one place! But you know I have a question. “English” cucumber? What is that? Don’t you think it’s exotic enough that I’ve got to figure out how to buy a mango without slapping a modifier on my cucumber to make me wonder whether I have the right kind?
If you tell me that English cucumbers are merely the cucumbers I’ve always known and loved, I’m still probably not going to call them that. It’s a rebel thing.
Also, if you store this salad, do you keep some things separate (ie, dressing, peanuts) until just before serving? Does it store well! Thank you, Scumpdillady!
July 29th, 2008 at 10:07 am
An English cucumber is the cucumber wrapped in plastic, sometimes called “burpless” or “seedless” (even though there are seeds). I always use these cucumbers in salads anyway, because the “burpless” name makes me feel like I’m taking some kind of extra precaution. I’ve never paid attention to whether I’m burpy or not after eating them, so I’m not sure if it really is “burpless”. But why risk it?
You ask such good questions, KristinAthena! You make me realize that I should include these kinds of things in my posts to begin with.
Yes, I store the noodle/basil/mint/dressing mixture in one container, the other vegetables in another container, the mangoes in a third container, and the leftover dressing in yet another. The peanuts and cilantro are also stored independently. Do I store this way, because I’m a container addict and have many containers? Maybe. But I also think it keeps the entire salad fresher.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Please do not answer every question in your original posts; it would take away a great joy from my life if I had nothing to write in a comment. Without this joy, I might slip into a bizarre addiction, such as food container use. I would have to lie to my husband about the money suddently missing from our accounts because I’ve spent it on snaplock.
I’m glad you said that about storing the cilantro separately. I do that for another salad that calls for mixing it with the dressing right away. I just think it’s fresher and more vibrant tasting if you keep it “leafy” until time to toss and munch.