Mmmm, mango!

I'm sorry, I'm a slacker. I haven't really cooked anything this week that requires a recipe, apart from the mango salsa. OK, I'll write that up properly. The week's menu has been pretty simple.

* Roast saltbush lamb and veggies
* Wattleseed fettucini with mango chilli chicken
* Grilled steak and salad
* Lamb pide sandwiches (leftover lamb, pide, hommous and tabouli from Dickson)

I do love mangoes. They're one of my favourite fruits, and every year I make a point of eating some on or near my birthday. It's early in the season, so they're quite expensive, but it does really signal that summer's on the way. This year I bought four expensive mangoes ($3.75 each); I probably won't buy any more until they come in under $2.50. Unless I get too tempted.

Mostly they just get eaten as is: just cut them up, and eat. This is easy, and if you google it you'll find videos. And OMG! you can even buy a gadget for it: the OXO mango splitter. I've not seen them for sale here yet and I wouldn't recommend it anyway. All you need is a sharp knife, and that will work on all sizes of mango.

This is how you slice a mango. Image credit to mangoes.net.au, because I ate all mine without taking a photo. Click on the image to see their how to.

First, find the stem end, stand the mango up with stem down. Then find the flatter sides. Slice these off the mango, cutting as close to the centre as the knife will easily go. Seeds do vary in size.

You now have two mango cheeks. The conventional advice is to cut these in a checkerboard pattern, not cutting quite through to the skin. You mostly want this 3x4 or 4x5, if it's too fine it gets too easy to squash rather than cube neatly. Turn it inside out and slice the cubes from the skin.

I mostly prefer cutting strips instead. To do this, score into three or four vertical strips each, and use a small sharp knife to remove the flesh from the peel. It takes a little practice.

I also like mangoes in salsas, salads, smoothies, lassis, and sorbets - in all cases the fruit is not cooked. I'm not very big on cooked mango, but I don't hate it either. The bloke, as it turns out, does not like it at all. Here's the salsa recipe

Recipe: Mango Salsa
1 medium mango, diced small
1/2 small red onion, diced small
2 jalapeno chillies, seeded and diced very small
Combine, rest for half an hour in the fridge for the flavours to meld a bit, and serve on grilled chicken or fish.

Notes: First, some herbs would be really good to add to this. Especially some coriander and/or fresh mint. Second, some people don't like a strong onion taste. Use spring onion instead, or blanch the onion under boiling water for a minute.

Also, it makes a simple sauce. You can simply heat this up, and bingo!, you have mango chilli sauce. The mango will mush down. But that is not something I'll do again, because the bloke didn't like it. I thought it was fine, but I much prefer the raw version, too.