Mango, Chicken and Cucumber Salad

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I have always considered the addition of fruits into savoury dishes a delicate matter and approached the new combinations very cautiously. The results can be extraordinary, but I have already had awful experience with certain fruits, such as the pineapple (pineapple on a pizza or in a mayonnaise salad is simply not my thing). As much as I love mango in hot sauces (I preserve dozens of jars of hot mango sauce every year), I had serious reservations to include them raw into savoury dishes. Finally, the numerous tempting mango salads I kept on seeing on my favourite blogs convinced me  (thank you my dear friends!) and last Saturday I prepared my very first savoury salad with mango. I shouldn’t boast, but this salad was sensational and, needless to say, has totally convinced me to keep on experimenting mango’s savoury potential.

I haven’t followed any recipe but simply my cravings. I wanted a refreshing, light salad with chicken (which is a dish I actually crave quite often). I ended up with the ubiquitous cucumber of course, added some mango, stir-fried chicken breast, red onion to counterbalance the mango’s sweetness, some chili to give the salad a hot kick and coriander… because somehow it seemed right. I was surprised that the sweetness of mango wasn’t as overwhelming as I feared and its relative softness added an interesting combination of texture with the crunchy cucumber. I loved this salad so much, I prepared it twice in two days and I already feel it will be my summer staple. If you have never included mango in savoury salads, the summer heat is the best moment to experiment.

TIPS: I suppose this salad would be extraordinary if prepared with green tangy mango, but since I had only yellow sweet mangoes, I used these.

I stir-fried the chicken breasts, but leftover roast chicken would be perfect here too.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

2 small chicken breasts 

2/3 of a long cucumber

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 big firm mango (it shouldn’t be too ripe or soft)

1 medium red onion

juice from 1 lime

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt, chili in powder or fresh (I used medium hot Korean chili powder)

fresh coriander

Cut up the chicken breasts into small, bite-sized pieces.

Season them with salt and stir fry with garlic on medium heat.

Pour the lime juice and the olive oil into a big bowl.

Add the chili and the salt.

Cut up the mango and the cucumber and put into the bowl.

Add the chicken, the chopped coriander.

Mix everything, check the taste and rectify the seasoning if needed.

Serve with crunchy bread and butter.

 

44 Replies to “Mango, Chicken and Cucumber Salad”

  1. What a vibrant bowl of colour and delight! I love fruit in savoury dishes; that’s so interesting what you say about your cautious approach… I’m afraid my approach is quite haphazard – throw ’em in there and the more the better! ;-). I’ve never been a big fan of pineapple with its overpowering sweetness though so it’s quite possible that would queer the deal for me too. It looks like you’ve achieved just the right balance here. What a nice recipe – kind of like a mango salsa with the addition of chicken, transforming it into a tasty meal – yum!

    1. Thank you so much, Kelly. You are my biggest inspiration in mixing fruit and vegetables! I still remember your salads and salsas of course. I also remember you are a big mango fan. If it wasn’t for all those awful salads with pineapple and mayonnaise I would have probably made this one much quicker.

  2. Beautiful recipe beautifully served and photographed! Yes, a number of posts have come up with loving chicken and mango and other fruit together just lately – I believe I remember Chinese gooseberries in one. The cucumber and mango and onion together tho’ appeals to me very much indeed . . .

    1. Thank you so much, Eha. I was so surprised by the great taste of this combination! I am ready to experiment with other fruits too.

  3. Sissi, that is one gorgeous salad! Your combination of ingredients sounds delicious and your photo is stunning!

  4. Absolutely one of my favourite flavours is the mango and chicken (in fact, I have some for lunch today). The colours and contrast in textures is amazing, as is the lovely chicken that is the star of the dish. I agree with the pineapple, it’s not one of my favourite ingredients with savoury food.

    1. What a coincidence! Thank you, Eva for the compliments. In spite of this bad experience I have had with the pineapple I love its combination with chili (I make a preserve like this), but then sweet and hot is my beloved combination of flavours.

  5. I don’t eat salads often, though this definitely looks like something I would LOVE to have! The colors are wonderful, and I can already taste the kick those chili powder must have brought to the dish.

    Sissi you are so good at experimentation, I am thinking you must have some extraordinary taste buds!

    1. Jeno, you are so sweet! Thank you for such huge compliments! I am really flattered, but there is nothing extraordinary about my taste buds! I eat a lot of salads with some protein (fish, shrimp, meat) as main courses when it’s hot and this one was particularly refreshing.

  6. Sissi, I love that this is prepared with ingredients that I usually have on hand. It combines many of my favourite foods as well. As you may have guessed, I’m on a salad roll this summer and I’m definitely adding this to my list of salads to try. Yum!!! I could see this paired with dumplings!

    1. Thank you so much, Barb. I have seen your chick peas salad today and I have also added it to my list of new dishes to try. Salads can be such excellent nutritious meals especially in the summer.

  7. Dear Sissi,

    I agree adding fruit to savoury dishes should be approached with a little caution. One of my favourites for using sweet mango is to make a mango salsa with tomatoes, cucumber and onions for grilled / BBQ fish dishes in summer. The red, yellow and green colours from the salsa is so enticing and when added with fish sauce, palm sugar, lemon juice and EVOO, it could literally work for any kind of grilled seafood 🙂

    1. Hi Chopinand. Thank you for the salsa idea. I have hesitated if I should add some fish sauce to this chicken salad, but now thanks to your recipe I know I will try it one day with a mango salad.

      1. The important thing to remember with fish sauce is that it should be balanced with sugar (preferably brown sugar or palm sugar as it has a different sweet dimension) and lemon juice.

        When the balance is right, it is such an appetizing taste because it has elements of sweet, savoury and sour.

        1. Thank you once more for the advice! I love fish sauce but until now I have used it only when making Thai curry…

  8. Oooohhh …. this is like a beautiful painting!
    Looks like you’ve discovered a great combination. I’ve done this often with leftover roast chicken. Sweet, ripe mangoes somehow goes very well with raw onions and chillies. Well, that might just be my weird localized tastebuds talking. Looks like we share a taste for that as well! 🙂

    1. Hi Ping. Thank you for the compliment! I’m really flattered you like my dark photo (I cannot stop using the dark background…). I knew that my mango salad is not a big invention and that some of my blogging friends and visitors, especially those who live in Asia, make such salads all the time, but for me it was a big exotic revelation. I think we have similar taste buds in this point 😉 Sweet and hot is my favourite flavours combination.

    1. Thank you so much, Squishy Monster. Korean chili flakes are not only good, but they are decorative 🙂

  9. Hi Sissi, I think mango is one of those things which works excellently in salads. In fact the combination of mango and cucumber is especially delicious I find, although I know not everyone is a fan of cucumber.

    You know well how I feel about chicken but I do do enjoy a little every now and again so I definitely wouldn’t balk at this. Above all though – I love the colour of the salad… it’s *so* rich and pretty.

    By the way, I think I might have the same bowl as you, although it depends whether or not you bought it from IKEA 😀

    1. Haha! We are both fans of IKEA 😉 I couldn’t resist the bowl when I saw it. I must say it waited several months before I started to use it, but it looks great with some salads.
      Thank you for the compliment. Chicken is my staple meat, but any source of protein is ok here I suppose.

  10. Hi Sissi! We just finished our last mango tonight, so I have to go get more. I actually haven’t cooked mango in savory dishes either (I think… yes I don’t think I have tried before), and I’ve been thinking about mango teriyaki chicken etc that I’ve saw on other blogs. I’m just curious how it is like. Salad is a great option too, and yours look delicious and so easy to put together! Great recipe Sissi!

    1. Thank you, Nami. I am happy I’m not the only one who hasn’t had this experience! You should try it one day. I already see how many different salad possibilities I have with mango.

  11. I just had a wonderful cucumber salad at a Japanese restaurant and mentioned to Bobby that I need to start start experimenting more with cucumber and simple salads. Now I see this and know that it was meant to be. Love the mango, cucumber and chicken combination and then the addition of the chili! I personally think the sweet mango with the chili works best for me, but then I’m not a fan of green mango. Great salad!

    1. Thank you so much, MJ. I also love sweet mangoes with chili, but I also love the green ones’ tanginess. Cucumber is my staple. Especially in salads. It’s a kind of healthy, versatile basis a bit like lettuce.

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