Bring on the Mangoes

So I forgot to take a pre mango-cutting photo. Shoot me, I'm ill.

I've been pretty unwell this week, spending the latter half largely in a daze or asleep. Wednesday night it hit the fan, Thursday was mostly downs, and then I started having pretty severe ups and downs. In the ups I almost felt like "wow, I think I'm better" only to find myself crashing down to seriously unwell again shortly thereafter. Even though I am feeling a lot better, these downs are still getting me where I feel far from good. Anyway, I'm on some meds (which I don't brag about, I normally don't love the idea of antibiotics, but it was becoming apparent that something needed to kick this thing out of me, so I succumbed). 

During a particularly lucid hour I managed to hammer out my first attempt at Mango Chile Salsa. It was well worth it despite the fact that I felt like I had run a marathon through knee-high mud after standing for that long (yes, I did say only about an hour) and I remember some sort of feverish waking dream while something like Escape to the Country was playing on the TV. If only I could have woken up with a gorgeous Georgian estate in my possession. Never mind.

I had bought a mango from a local off-licence the previous Saturday night. I know, on odd thing to buy from an off-licence (especially this one that has about 10 fruits and vegetables for sale... not kinds, but in total). Well,  I was suckered into it. I was admiring the fruit while waiting in the queue and when I was paying for my gum and sneaky bag of Doritos the man behind the counter said "no mango?" to which I responded by asking how much and then promptly adding it to my purchases.  Okay, so this isn't really the definition of "suckered".  He knew a vulnerable foodie when he saw one. It was a particularly lovely mango, already perfectly ripe. Thus, when I saw it still on the counter at the end of the week I thought I better do something with it before it was doomed to be labeled over-ripe and wasted.

You might have noticed from previous posts that there are a few chile peppers lying around my house. This was, of course, running through my head when admiring the tasty fruit while waiting my turn at the off-licence. Can you say "habanero mango"? You must admit, it has a ring to it.

Here's what I used:

• Mango - ripe. Who knew they were so tricky to cut? 
• Green chile - fresh to taste
• Red chile - fresh to taste
• Habanero chile - i used 2 tiny ones. The bigger one in the pic up top didn't make it in.



the mango cubed with just the chiles on top.

• Bit of red onion. I only used about 1/4
• Bit of yellow bell pepper - prob even less
• Cherry tomatoes - some - quartered
• Fresh lime juice - about half a lime
• Fresh cilantro - chopped
• salt - to taste
• bit of olive oil - prob only a tablespoon or so.

Injuries sustained:

• this time the red chile did squirt directly in my eye when cutting. Not altogether nice. Well, not nice at all, but was glad it wasn't the Habanero. 

The finished product: 

voila! Pre-refrigeration which made it even better.

Why do the salsas never seem to look as good in the photos? I was REALLY happy with the result and will definitely be making it again. Perfectly sweet and spicy. Yum.

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