Sriracha Mango Salad

I'll eat pretty much anything with mangoes in it, so it's a bonus that Thai food (one of my favourites) and Lao food (my favourite) include mangoes in many dishes. This recipe is not 100% Thai or Lao, but it does include fish sauce, which Lao people put on everything, and also sriracha, which Hipster people put on everything, so basically it's perfect.

Before you ask if children should eat Hipster-approved food, the answer is YES. Let them taste different flavours, adjust the spice level to suit budding taste buds or novices, and watch them dig in.

My kids love this salad, and so do my nieces. My gang ranges in age from eight to 16, but we've been letting them eat anything and everything since they were little, and that includes spicy food. Sriracha is not overly hot/spicy unless you douse your food with it (which my son does, but he's 16 and they march to a different drummer) and it's easy enough to adjust the quantity you add in the mango salad to suit your family's taste.

simple sriracha mango salad with cilantro and cucumbers

Sriracha Mango Salad

Salad Ingredients

3 large mangoes (The small yellow ones work too, but I was going for flavour and quantity.)

1 red pepper

1 large cucumber (English or garden)

2 handfuls cilantro (equals 1 1/2 cups when chopped)

Sriracha Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette

1 tbsp sriracha

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cut mangoes, red pepper, and cucumber into small pieces. Rough chop cilantro to the equivalent of approximately 1 1/2 cups.

Toss cut fruit and vegetables together.

Combine all ingredients for the dressing. Taste before adding salt and pepper and add to taste. I used 2-3 turns of the pepper mill and salt mill for this recipe.

Pour 2/3 of the mixed dressing over the salad and toss. Add more dressing as needed.

Serves 6-8

simple sriracha mango salad with cilantro and cucumbers