We Can Have the Mango!

Saturday Night Live – Mango: Garth Brooks

Just like Garth Brooks, Romeo can’t have the Mango.  He used to be able to consume the divinely delicious fruit to his heart’s delight, but he OD’ed on mango during a tropical hiking trip some years back (in which at every pit stop he picked mangoes from low-hanging branches, peeled and devoured them.)  Legend has it that on that journey Romeo ate a full 15 mangoes in the space of 12 hours.  Romeo’s lovely face swelled up to twice its original size, he ran a dangerously high fever, and he developed painful blisters inside his mouth.  Some thought it was an allergic reaction to the mango.  Others suspected Romeo was the victim of a chupacabra or a voodoo curse.

Unfortunately, it was the Mango. Romeo has tried mango and mango products since and always suffers similarly grotesque results (never quite as bad as the first time).  Out of deference to Romeo’s sensitivity I do not partake in mangoes around him (I even forgo that nectar-of-the-gods commonly known as the mango lassi in subcontinental restaurants when we dine together) and I restrain myself from preparing dishes featuring mangoes in our kitchen.  Ah, the sacrifices we make for love.

But when I was invited to an island-themed potluck recently, on a night when Romeo was otherwise occupied, I couldn’t resist the temptation of the mango.  I CAN have the Mango damnit, and so can you! Sorry Romeo ?! (And sorry Liza, I know how much you hate it when a fruit is the MVI of a dish.)

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The easy, delicious,  and refreshing mango salsa recipe for the rest of us after the jump….

First I should give credit where due.  LaMorgan a while back brought an oh-so-delicious mango salsa to a ladies’ night event at my place.  I didn’t follow her recipe (I was too lazy to scrounge for it), but it was most certainly my inspiration.

10 Minute Mango Salsa Recipe

I took four ripe but still firm mangoes (you don’t want them too mushy) and peeled and chopped them into bite-size pieces.

I then took one 12 oz. container of fresh cherry tomatoes and sliced them into quarters.  I finely diced one poblano pepper (a not so spicy big green chili – so mild babies can eat it without crying),

Then I chopped one large sweet red pepper, and added two large handfuls of freshly chopped cilantro to the mix.  I sprinkled with salt and squeezed a little lime on it and placed the entire mixture into a strainer to drain off the excess liquid.   I tossed the salsa around in the strainer for about a minute and then placed it in a serving dish and sprinkled lightly with red pepper flakes and a bit more salt to taste.  Served it up with tortilla chips.

That’s it ladies and gents.

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We can have the MANGO!

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8 comments

  • miked. May 20, 2009  

    a friendly correction of the record: Many years ago romeo spent a summer in Trinidad. One day he hiked around the rainforest with a local boy who, like romeo, had an affinity for the green mango, as opposed to the ripe ones that had fallen to the ground. So they spent the day throwing rocks at the green mangos to knock them down from the high branches. The number consumed may have been 5 or 20, but the real problem was the poison. See, mangos have a sticky, white sap around where the fruit connects to the stem that the crawly bugs don’t want to walk through to reach the delicious fruit. So the best theory out there is that romeo simply poisoned himself with mango milk, and his body continues to reject the fruit. So sad.

  • Maids May 20, 2009  

    An amendment to the record will be forthcoming. Thnx miked.

  • Liza May 20, 2009  

    It really is a gorgeous salsa!!! I mean beautiful! And I can’t believe the recipe is that quick that’s awesome!

    If only mango’s weren’t so incredibly offensive to me….

    But I’m sure to those normal people out there who aren’t freaked out by fruit it tastes divine!

  • Della May 20, 2009  

    Slightly disturbed that you test poblano peppers on babies, Maids. So, an island themed potluck? What a fatastic idea. what did other people bring? I love the colors in this dish. I don’t think chopping all those ingresidents would take me only ten minutes, but it does look like a wonderful recipe.

  • BS May 20, 2009  

    goddamn I love mango salsa. and goddamn chris katan is annoying as hell.

  • NeeNee May 20, 2009  

    Good stuff, Maids…but this sucker is screaming for a serrano.

  • Maids May 21, 2009  

    @BS, really? I found him annoying in everything but the Mango skits. Mango skits gave me giggles.

  • BS May 21, 2009  

    I see where you’re coming from – they’re not awful skits, but I still can’t get past him. not in this or anything.

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