Green Mango salad Yam mamuang

This is without a shadow of a doubt one of my most favourite Thai dishes, it's incredible aromatic and fantastic if you are trying to lose a few pounds of Christmas bulge. Green mangoes are just under ripe mangoes and are readily available in all good Asian stores or on line, they are not the cheapest but they are definitely worth trying. I do have extremely fond memories of walking down Khao San Rd in Bangkok during the evening with a plastic container in hand filled with mango salad that only cost me a mere 20p. Street food is so cheap in Thailand but it tastes so great that there is really no need to go to a restaurant, I would find a step and a hawker and munch to my hearts content. This just sums up everything that is great about Thai food, fresh, spicy, sweet, salty and sour. Perfect!

You will need:

2 green mangoes peeled and shredded
1 lemon grass stick (peel the outer leaves of the lemongrass until the inner part is revealed)
1 shallot
1 large garlic clove
1 red birds eye chili
1 tsp of salt
6 tbsp of palm sugar
1 tbsp of fish sauce
the juice of a lime

In a pestle and mortar crush the shallot, garlic clove, red chili and the lemon grass stick using the sugar and the salt as an abrasive, pound it until it has become a paste. Add the fish sauce and lime juice, add the shredded mango and serve. To make this into a meal add prawns and serve with sticky rice.