Dawna Nolan's Mango and Shrimp Salad

The wall of heat has arrived. Like a thick syrup, it's encircling the city. On days like this, what always surprises me is how strongly I seem to suffer from weather amnesia. It's been 98 degrees before - many times before, even - but when I first feel that wretched miasma of heat and filth, it's a shock to my system. And after I've gotten used to the sweltering sun, I wrack my brain to try to remember what winter feels like, but I'm not able to summon it. Because it's so hot right now that walking outside is an extreme sport and the existence of another time or place is like an impossibility.

Food in its simplest forms feels unthinkably frivolous when it's like this. I wake up and can barely muster the interest in a cup of tea. Lunch rolls around and I have to force myself to eat a piece of tofu and some greens. This is strange behavior for someone who can set a watch to her stomach growls, but the heat takes it all out of me.

And yet.

In a last-ditch effort to save myself from eating cereal with (cool, blessedly cool) milk for dinner, I plucked this Thai-style salad from the pile. The gravitation towards Southeast Asia couldn't have been much of a surprise - I don't know where you'd find more experts on hot-weather food. I wasn't lucky enough to get my hands on any of the Indian mangoes that finally came our way earlier this summer, but I substituted them with a few of those smooth, yellow-greenish, Haitian mangoes and promised myself that when I finally get around to going on that vacation in India I've been meaning to take for the past six years, I'll eat all the mangoes I can get.

(Was anybody else so lucky as to try an Alphonso or Banganpalli or Kesar when they were being allowed into the country? Those names alone! I'm bewitched.)

In any case, Haitian mangoes diced up and dressed with a fiery, sweet-sour dressing, then punctuated with salt-frosted peanuts, cooling leaves of mint, the appealing crunch of bean sprouts, and bright, tender shrimp is quite the hot-weather meal. You'll barely break a sweat preparing it and, more importantly, will feel entirely refreshed as you eat it. (And if you've got leftovers, roll them up in leaves of butter lettuce the next day for lunch. I won't be so lucky.)

Fridge-cold and hot-sour-salty-sweet - this salad was relief and pleasure in one.

Mango and Shrimp Salad
Serves 4

Dressing
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from about 2 to 3 large limes)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 4 seeded and minced Thai chiles (or 1 to 3 serranos), to taste

1. In a small saucepan, combine the fish sauce, sugar and honey. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar and honey dissolve and the mixture is syrupy, about 1 minute.

2. In a blender or food processor, combine the sweetened fish sauce syrup, lime juice, garlic and chiles, and blend for about 30 seconds to a minute. Set aside. Makes two-thirds cup.

Mango salad and assembly
1 pound (medium to large) raw shrimp
5 to 6 large firm mangoes (about 8 ounces each), peeled, pitted and cut into medium dice
1 cup bean sprouts
2 tablespoons minced shallot (about 2 large)
About 1/2 cup stemmed cilantro, plus more for garnish
About 1/2 cup small mint leaves (if leaves are large, tear them in half), plus more for garnish
2/3 cup dressing, divided, or to taste
4 teaspoons chopped peanuts (unsalted) for garnish
Lime wedges

1. Peel and devein the shrimp under cold, running water. Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer and add the shrimp. Poach the shrimp until just cooked (they will be pink and firm, and opaque throughout), about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Drain the shrimp; place them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the shrimp again; set aside in the refrigerator.

2. In a large bowl, combine the mangoes, sprouts, shallot, cilantro and mint and set aside.

3. Mix about one-half cup of the dressing, or to taste, with the reserved mango mixture. Mound the mango mixture on four chilled plates. Toss the shrimp with the remaining dressing to coat. Divide the shrimp evenly on top of each salad and sprinkle about 1 teaspoon peanuts on top of each plate. Garnish with sprigs of mint and cilantro. Add lime wedges to each plate.

Comments

[Jessika]

It's raining here (sweden). That's all it's doing. Every day. Roads are falling apart, grounds are eroding taking roads with it, everything basically is flooding. I am not fond of heat but all this raining it's getting on my nerve. You can keep the heat on your side of the puddle but give us som clear weather at least.
So here you can eat pretty much anything. I've been baking like mad, to the point that my freezer is now full. Yay. Now what do I do? For a foodie this is hell, wanting to cook incessantly but not having enough storage ;).

[Lydia]

Seriously, it's almost too hot to read, let alone cook. But this salad looks amazing and I agree that the hot countries really know how to craft food that cools you down. I don't have any mangoes but do have some great nectarines, which I think would work in this recipe, too. Thanks -- and stay cool....

[s'kat]

It's 100++ today, and that salad looks sooooo good! But making it would mean yet another trip to the grocery store, which means- *gasp*- another unnecessary excursion from car to AC and back again.

It's cereal for me tonight, but I'll plan better for a couple night's hence.

[radish]

Yum, i was thinking of making the same salad with crab, but the shrimp sounds even better!

[Kalyn]

This sounds fantastic. I try (hard!) not to eat sugar (it makes me crazy), but I've been experimenting with agave nectar which I bet would be wonderful in a dressing like this.

[ann]

well hello pretty new layout!! wow Luisa, that looks great! I love the idea of this salad, but I'm with Radish (HI!) on this one... I'd go with crab instead. Shrimp squidge me out a bit.
can I make one request? I'd love it if you added a search functionality to the site! like this morning, I wanted to see if you'd had anymore success with Bittman's stupid vegetable pancakes than I had, but I was too lazy to search on google. Just a thought :-)

[Lydia]

Love the new design and the larger photos, Luisa. Thanks again for a great site that inspires to cook and eat well.

[alec]

Love the new layout!

[Julie]

A new layout! Very spiffy. And I like this photo too.

And you're right -- it's HOT. I only managed cereal with berries last night, but we have a couple of days of this heat to look forward to before the next cool-off, and plenty more heat spells this summer, so this is a great thing to keep in mind.

[dawna nolan]

hi luisa-
as a wednesday chef aficionado, what an absolutely delightful surprise to find my recipe here! i'm so pleased that you enjoyed it, it's one of my favorite hot weather things too. will also add in response to some of the comments that it is, in fact, good with nectarines, or peaches, or papayas. (If the fruit is very sweet, it will probably require more of the dressing for balance) And papayas & mangos can be in any stage of ripeness or unripeness, it will still taste great. In regard to using or not using sugar, a fruit juice concentrate works fine, or honey, and as Kalyn says, i'm sure agave nectar would be good too- but i'd definitely not leave the "something sweet" out altogether, since this is a key feature of Thai & Vietnamese tastiness and the salty/hot/sweet/sour-ness is what makes it a refreshing pleasure on the tongue! thanks for making my day.
dawna

[Luisa]

Jessika - I can remember those cold, rainy summers from when I was growing up in Berlin. In August, we had to turn the heat on once. I guess the saving grace of a nasty summer like that is being able to bake, though I'd gladly share some of our sunny heat with you!

Lydia - nectarines! That sounds totally inspired. Let me know how it turns out - I love the idea.

S'kat - that cool front's coming in soon, isn't it? I'm such a wimp, I know... Enjoy your cereal tonight. When I'm eating mine, I'll think of you ;)

Olga - I don't know, crab would be delicious, too, I think! Shrimp's a little cheaper, I guess...

Kalyn - I wonder if agave would work. I confess I have absolutely no knowledge about subbing it. Let me know how it goes! The sugar in this recipe is pretty minimal, though, in case you want to try out the original.

Ann - why do shrimp squidge you out? Expound, please ;) Also, yes, search functionality, I know. In general, a recipe index would be great, but Typepad isn't all that conducive to setting up another page. Also, I am a technology dunce and confess to ignorance when it comes to anything outside of the Typepad template. Help! I'm working on it, I promise.

Lydia - thank YOU! I thought we could all use something a little fresh and new, no?

Alec - I'm so pleased! Thank you.

Julie - Thanks and thanks. I love that I'm not the only one resorting to cereal when it's like this...

Dawna - You're a reader! That's just lovely. Thanks for your input on the sweetener and the fruits. I wish I had some leftovers for tonight, but Ben and I zipped through this (half-recipe) last night - delicious.

[scorps1027]

yes, i did try the alphonso mangoes when they were in nyc. i bought them from an indian grocery and they lived up to the hype! then again, i've also had mangoes in india and i knew what all that hype was for awhile;)

[radish]

No, I actually like the idea of shrimp. I LOVE crab, don't get me wrong, but a) bf is allergic to crab :( and b) me likes the cost efficiency of shrimp vs crab. and c) easier cleaning :)

[Becca]

This salad looks, and I'm sure would taste amazing. I can't wait to run to my local groccery store and prepare this for all my friends. This makes turning something small into something a lot of people can enjoy. Thanks so much for helping out folks who don't know what to make for dinner.