Here's an easy recipe for a full-flavored Asian dish—Vietnamese green mango and pork salad—that requires no crazy cooking skills and no ingredients that you have to travel to Hanoi to buy.
Feel free to substitute ground chicken or ground turkey for the ground pork. Fish sauce can be found in most standard supermarkets. The following recipe, accompanied with brown rice and a vegetable, should serve six.
VIETNAMESE GREEN MANGO AND PORK SALAD
2 Green (unripe) mangoes, peeled and diced
2 tsp. Salt (preferably unrefined sea salt)
1/3 cup Lime juice
2 Tbs. Olive or high-quality canola oil
2 to 3 Tbs. Garlic, thinly sliced
2 to 3 Tbs. Shallots, thinly sliced
1 tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes
1.5 lbs. Ground pork
To taste Fresh ground pepper
¼ cup Fish sauce
2 Tbs. Brown sugar
4 Tbs. Peanuts, chopped (for garnish)
2 Tbs. Cilantro or parsley (for garnish)