Mango Salsa

Every winter, we attempt to cheer ourselves up with food. I turn to flavors like coconut and pineapple in the hopes that the tropical vibes will at least help me imagine it isn't 26F outside. This past winter, we ate spicy baja fish tacos almost every other week as a similar sort of pretend-it's-warm therapy. To amp it up, we'd also been making mango salsa.

I experimented with two different varieties, one with lots of red bell pepper and scallion and a variation with lots of baby cucumber and red onion and I think the latter was different enough and delicious enough to share. Of course my partiality may be due to the fact that the mango I scored at the grocery store that week was super ripe and juicy and sweet, but I do think that the cucumber is great because it soaks up the flavors of the salsa eagerly.

Ingredients:
1 ripe mango, peeled and diced
1 baby cucumber, diced
¼ red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
3 sprigs cilantro, chopped
juice of ½ lime
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

There isn't that much to this recipe. Basically, you just chop everything up, and stir it together with lime juice, salt, and pepper and serve. This goes deliciously with tacos, but it would also be awesome with chips, on top of nachos, with grilled fish, or on top of crispy plantain fritters.

I love this salsa because it's bright and punchy and has a good balance of sweet and savory. The fruity sweetness of the mango goes so well with the fish tacos. And I feel like I've been transported to an island in the Caribbean. Okay, not really, but I'm so distracted by the deliciousness that the biting cold seems bearable for the time being.

In case you were wondering about the other version, I used a mango, half of a red bell pepper, half of a jalapeno, one scallion, a clove of garlic, and plenty of cilantro and basically did the same thing; diced up the vegetables and tossed with lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Here's the recipe page: