Ensaladang Manga (Green Mango Salad)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole green mango, chopped into small pieces
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1 to 2 tbsp of shrimp paste or bagoong

Procedure:

1. Mix all the ingredients in one container.
2. Serve as a side dish.

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

You think green and really sour mango with bagoong is good?  Well, you might want to try this Ensaladang Manga.  I can still remember when I first saw Ensaladang Manga.  My uncle made it as a side dish and I was really hesitant to eat it because of the big chunks of onion.  Well you know what?  The next thing I knew was that it disappeared from the table in a few minutes.  So that made me think that it was probably good.  The next time he made it, I decided to give it a try and boy!  It was good.  No wonder everybody likes it, well at least in our family.  The onion really made the difference.

My husband don’t like it, only because of the fact that I put bagoong in it.  He never really like bagoong.  So I only make it for myself and only when he is not at home.  He said that the bagoong smells like a dead rat and taste really weird.  He couldn’t believe that I like it.  I couldn’t really blame him.  He never had bagoong before, that’s why.  When I was in college, I was dirt poor, really broke, no money, and couldn’t even afford to buy a pair of pants.  I had to eat bagoong and rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because that’s the only food I can afford at that time.  Yes, I learned to love bagoong.

So this Ensaladang Manga, if you never had it before, you might not like it.  But if you are not offended by the smell and taste of bagoong, then you might want to try it.  But I won’t recommend this to everybody because not everybody likes bagoong.  This is one of the Pinoy recipes that my husband doesn’t like.  But I like it and I am happy that I don’t have to share it from him and I can have it all to myself