Here’s a salad that combines the fresh tartness of green—unripe—mangoes with a little stir-fried meat. Unripe mangoes are more common than the ripe variety at most supermarkets, but if you can’t find them, substitute Granny Smith apples. Nam pla—Thai fish sauce—is described on page 500. Palm sugar is authentic but pretty indistinguishable from brown sugar.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　2 green mangoes, peeled, pitted, and julienned or diced (see illustration on page 119)

　　Salt to taste

　　1/4 cup fresh lime juice

　　3 tablespoons corn, grapeseed, or other neutral oil

　　3 garlic cloves, sliced

　　3 shallots, sliced

　　2 small fresh chiles, preferably Thai, stemmed and minced, or 2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes, or to taste

　　1/4 pound ground beef or pork

　　1 teaspoon black pepper

　　1/4 cup nam pla

　　1 tablespoon brown or palm sugar

　　3 tablespoons dry-roasted peanuts, chopped

　　3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

　　

Step 1

Toss the mango pieces with the salt and lime juice and set aside. Put the oil in a large skillet and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the garlic, shallots, and chiles and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

　　

Step 2

Add the meat and pepper to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until it loses its pinkness. Stir in the nam pla and sugar and cook for 1 minute more. Drain any excess oil from the pan, then add the beef mixture to the mangoes. Mix well, garnish with the peanuts and cilantro, and serve.

　　

Green Mango Salad with Smoked Fish

Step 3

Substitute 1 small smoked trout, skinned, boned, and broken into 1/2-inch pieces (it will fall apart as you handle it), for the meat. Proceed as directed, cooking the trout only long enough to heat it through.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.