Thai Mango Salad (Vegetarian/ Eggetarian)

I just love the way this salad preparation relaxes me. I usually put down all the ingredients on the kitchen counter near the the window and look at all the colors that will soon be a part of this sweet-sour-spicy salad. The pale yellow from the mango, light green from the cucumber, light pink from onion, deep red from tomato, orange from carrot, bright red from thai red chili, and a fresh green color from cilantro. It's like a song!

I diligently try to get fine juliennes of everything to form lovely ribbons. There are so many textures and flavors in one single platter, yet they all marry together so beautifully! 

You can't help but wonder, it really must have been someone who looked at life so differently to think this up! Or maybe it's just my love for Thai food, that makes me so happy. 

OK now back to the dish. There are two ingredients that make this salad interesting – toasted peanuts and kaffir lime leaves. Toasted peanuts give a nice crunch between the tangy-hot-sweet bite. Though traditionally kaffir lime leaves are not added to this dish, I feel the lime leaves adds a totally new dimension. But I  know, in most part of the world kaffir lime leaves are hard to come by, so if you can't find any, don't worry, it will still tastes awesome!! 

You need:

Semi ripe mango – 2 Parts (I prefer slightly ripe mango which is still very firm when you press the surface and try picking a variety that is not too sour) 

Cucumber – 1 Part (discard the seed part completely)

Carrot - 1 Part

Tomato - 1 Part (discard the juicy seed part completely)

Greens of spring onion - 1 Part

Red onion - 1 Part

Kaffir Lime Leaves – 2-3 Nos.

Eggs (Optional) –  Soft boiled or Scrambled with salt pepper

Toasted peanut – roughly broken into halves

Getting the veggies ready:

Make very fine juliennes of all the vegetables. You can always add or subtract as per your choice. 

Getting the salad dressing ready: 

Just follow the ratio of ingredients as below, and make as much you wish. Best way to do it, is to first make the dressing, taste and then add the veggies. This is because you can always tweak the dressing to your taste before you add the veggies, but once added, there is no going back! ;)

Lime juice – 2 Tbsp

Sugar – 1 tsp

Fish sauce – ½ tsp (optional, pure vegetarians  replace with ¼ tsp of light soy sauce)

Salt - if required

Getting the eggs ready:
Bring water to a boil, add eggs. Cover and boil for 1 min. Switch off the flame and let the eggs rest in hot water for 15-20 min. You get perfect, soft boiled eggs with soft centre. De-shell and cut into 4-6 parts

Tossing the salad up:

Put all the ingredients of dressing in a big bowl, whisk well. If the taste is balanced (else, adjust at this stage), add all the veggies, toasted peanut. Toss all of them gently so as to coat the dressing uniformly. Serve on platter and add eggs on top of the salad. 

* If can replace egg with tofu or you can skip that as well.

**If you are making it for a party, you can chop all the veggies and keep them all in an air tight container (don't mix them, keep them separate so that their individual flavors intact) in refrigerator. Make the dressing and store it in a glass jar and refrigerate. Keep toasted peanuts in a box. 
***You may also want to try the seafood version of this salad  here: Thai Prawn-Mango Salad (Thai Shrimp-Mango Salad)