Mango Quinoa Salad

Even though it’s June in Los Angeles, it doesn’t quite feel like summer yet. The days have been gloomy and chilly still. But just because the weather doesn’t cooperate, it doesn’t mean you can’t get yourself in the mood with some light summery food! I love fruit and any salads that incorporate it in some way. I’ve been making this Mango Quinoa Salad for the last decade but have never taken the time to write down the recipe. It’s light and refreshing. If you want, you can add protein to it. It’s best eaten fresh. If you have leftovers, it can dry out a little bit overnight and might require you to add a splash more lemon juice, EVOO, and sesame oil the next day to liven it up.

MANGO QUINOA SALAD (serves 3-4 as a side)

·       2 cups cooked quinoa

·       1 cup of cubed mango

·       ¼ cup diced red onion

·       ¼ cup diced Campari tomatoes

·       ½ cup diced cucumber

·       ¼ cup chopped cilantro

·       Extra Virgin Olive oil

·       ½ tsp salt

·       2-3 tsp sesame oil

·       1 lemon juiced

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix and serve!

Eating My Way Through Cambodia

Recapping my adventure in Cambodia for my last blog post was not easy to do. I had so much to share and I didn’t even get to share with you all the food I ate! I had watermelon juice almost everyday, binged on noodle soup and rice porridge for breakfast, ate the freshest fruit in Cambodia (dragon fruit, coconuts, mango), devoured chicken skewers with lime pepper sauce, ordered green mango salad every chance I got, drank fruity martinis, and had the best crabs of my life.

The best thing I ate on my trip would have to be the crabs I had at Kimly Restaurant in Kep on the coast. It was made with fresh green peppercorn grown in the Kampot region of Cambodia. It’s a little messy to eat but it’s so delicious! You can’t get this anywhere else unless you are growing your own peppercorn. The crabs are fried with the peppercorn straight on the sprig, unlike the peppercorn we are used to seeing which has been boiled and dried. I visited La Plantation to get a personal tour of a pepper plantation. It was really interesting learning about how peppercorn is grown.

I stayed in Kep for only 1 night but went to Kimly for crabs twice during my stay. I’ve had these crabs before, 7 years ago when I was last in Cambodia and it’s still just as good as I remembered. There is also a little shack on Rabbit Island (an island off the coast of Kep that I visited last time) that serves delicious crabs as well.

At the beginning of my Cambodia trip, I took a cooking class where I learned how to make fish amok. This is one of the most popular dishes among tourists. But it’s not something that I’ve grown up eating. My mother has never made this for me. I didn’t even know what it was until I visited Cambodia for the first or second time 13 years ago. I’ve tried making this dish myself a couple times in Los Angeles, but I never thought it tasted quite right and wondered if maybe I was doing it wrong. However, after taking the cooking class and trying the dish at several restaurants around Cambodia, I think that it is simply not a dish that I like all that much. I originally wanted to include this dish in my cookbook but I think I need to leave it out because my heart just isn’t in it…yet.

Noodle soup and rice porridge are 2 of my favorite Cambodian comfort foods. I ate them almost everyday at restaurants and also at my cousin’s house in Phnom Penh. After having eaten that much of it at so many different locations around Cambodia, I have to say that I think my version of it is pretty good, if not better. This trip has definitely boosted my confidence in my own cooking, which makes me feel that all the work I put into the last year has been worth it :)

During my trip, I found myself really enjoying chicken skewers with lime-pepper sauce. It’s a sauce I don’t make very often because I grew up having my mom’s preferred sauce—sweet fish sauce. But in Cambodia, lime-pepper sauce was often served with grilled meats and was so delicious. I’m going to try making this sauce more.

As I ate my way through Cambodia, I was inspired by all the food I ate, the wet markets, the street food vendors, and the dishes I saw on restaurant menus. I will definitely be adding some more recipes to my cookbook and can’t wait to start cooking again!

Green Mango Relish

Have you ever bought a Green Mango before?  I haven't until now.

I had to ask my mother about it and it was not an easy conversation.  Sometimes, she doesn't make any sense! Our heated conversation went something like this:

Me: Do I just buy a mango that is not ripe?

Mom: Yes, get a green mango.

Me: Aren't all mangoes green?

Mom: No, some mangoes get yellow/orange inside but green mangoes don't.

Me: But if I get a firm, young mango, it should be fine right?  I will just use it right away before it gets ripe sitting out on the counter.

Mom: No.  These green mangoes don't get ripe.  Ever.  They can sit on your counter for days and still don't get ripe.

Me: Then how do I know if I got the right mango?

Mom: I just know the difference.

Me: Ok, that's great but how will I know??? (Getting frustrated at this point)

Mom: The young mangoes are separated.

Me: So they have boxes that note that they are GREEN mangoes? But most mangoes are green on the outside! I don't get it!!! I've bought green looking mangoes before that are sweet! Mom!!!! 

Mom: They are different!  These mangoes never get ripe!  They are picked when they are young and never get ripe.  The regular ones are picked when they are ripe, so they will continue to get riper and sweeter after you leave them sitting out. 

Me: Ok, so the difference is when they are picked?

Mom: Yesssssss!!!!

So now I've learned that these mangoes aren't just green-colored mangoes.  They are actually referred to as "Green Mangoes" because they are unripe.  They have a slightly sour, tart flavor.  If you have never bought one before, this might all be new to you like it was for me.  However, if you have experience in Southeast Asian cooking, this may be common knowledge to you and you probably think I sound like an idiot.  WHATEVER! This was a learning experience for me.  Green mangoes can look like regular mangoes, and sometimes even have a slight exterior reddish coloring that regular mangoes can have.  But they are 3-4 times more expensive!  Who knew?! I spent $8 on 2 mangoes in order to make the above-pictured Cambodian Green Mango Relish dish. 

If you have the same question regarding Green Papaya, it also has a similar story.  I know this because I got into this same 15 minute heated conversation with my mother about green papaya.  It is different from the ripe orange flesh papaya that is used in smoothies and eaten as a fruit.  Green papaya, like green mangoes, are unripe.  They are supposedly not more expensive than regular papaya the way that green mangoes are more expensive than regular mangoes.  However, I don't have first hand experience with buying a green papaya yet (I cheated and bought my papaya pre-shredded at a Thai grocery store).  And my mom's suggestion for finding the right green papaya is to dig your nail into it while shopping for the fruit to see if it is ripe or not since she says they don't separate them at the grocery store.  Not sure I will follow her suggestion but ok, thanks, mom.  Super helpful.