Mangifera indica
Mango
ANACARDIACEAE, The Cashew family
Tonight we had Nicole and Martin over for dinner and Michael made a Brazilian black bean stew served over rice and topped with fruit salsa and cilantro. The fruit topping is a surprising and refreshing contrast to the spicy salty stew. This recipe is from The World Food Cafe Cookbook. My mom gave me this vegetarian cookbook as a present a long time ago, and it is one of my favorites. It is written by a couple, Chris and Carolyn Caldicott, who travels around the world finding recipes, and makes them at their London restaurant in Neal’s Yard (near Covent Garden.) Here is the recipe for the salsa:
Mango Salsa
1 large ripe mango, peeled and cubed
2 small carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 orange, peeled and cubed
1 fresh green chili, finely chopped
Handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Black pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Serves 4 to 6.
Mango is in the same family as cashews, pistachios, poison ivy and poison oak, smoke bush, schinus and sumac. All of these plants have resinous oils. Some are very tasty or benign while others are extremely dangerous to humans.
Mango trees are hardy in frost-free areas, and like warm weather. They can grow quite large (20-50 feet), are long-lived and don’t need another tree to pollinate their fruit. The mangos at U.S. grocery stores are imported from South and Central America and the Caribbean. They are native to South East Asia.
