This vibrant recipe by Meera Sodha came highly recommended by a friend. I’m so glad I took her advice because despite being a salad, this is a very satisfying plate of food. It hits all those flavour points we look for in a recipe: spicy, sharp, nutty, fresh, crunchy, sweet. Best of all, its very healthy.
There are two moderately faffy steps to making this salad. The first is making crispy onions and garlic slices, which isn’t difficult, but I’m always put off by shallow frying. The second stage is to cook off the chickpea flour in oil leftover from the onions – this becomes your dressing. The rest of the salad prep is lots of julienning and shredding of vegetables. I bought a julienne peeler years ago that has proved invaluable for this type of thing. The shredded vegetables and mango are then mixed with the crispy garlic and onion and the dressing poured over and herbs and peanuts sprinkled over.
Not being a food stylist and taking my photos immediately before I ate it for dinner, my Burmese mango, peanut and lime salad does not compare to the gorgeous photography in the book or on the Guardian website. It was good eating, either way. Think of it as a very complete, balanced, main-course coleslaw. I served it with some tofu, dusted with cornflour and five-spice before being baked till crispy for a full-vegan feast, but equally I could imagine it going well with some pulled pork (or jackfruit or King Oysters). As Meera recommends, I had what little leftovers with some nice noodles.
The recipe can be found in East, or on the Guardian website.
