Trinidad Mango Chow is a healthy Caribbean snack prepared with sweet mangoes and hot chilis amongst other flavor giving ingredients.
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
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Sunita, my Trini food expert, had me try her favorite Caribbean summer snack, the Mango Chow.
If you remember back in December, Sunita was the one to introduce us to the Caribbean Sorrel drink.
This is how I ended up sitting in my garden, enjoying a cold sorrel drink with freshly prepared Mango Chow.
It was a delight, and you are going to love it as well!
🥭 Ingredients
The mango chow is made of 5 ingredients and each balances out the other.
Mango
I used whatever Mangoes I had growing in my garden.
Mangoes without pulp fibers are preferred and most commercially available mangoes are without those stringy fibers.
Sunita explained that they tend to use the Julie Mango variety in the Caribbeans.
Pick sweet Mangoes with a green skin on the outside.
Don't pick green small mangoes used for pickles and chutneys.
Chili Peppers
I used milder chilis and halved the amount of chilis in the recipe, because I don't eat super spicy hot food.
If you are a hot chili head or Caribbean soul, you can add more chili peppers if you like.
Sunita explained that they usually like to use habaneros or seven pot in the Caribbean Mango Chow recipe.
Trini food is known to be hot and the island is growing some of the hottest chilis in the world.
Garlic
Garlic adds a pungent touch to the mango snack.
The bulbs chopped and added to the other ingredients, make the chow the addicting snack that it is.
Garlic with the sweet mango, hot peppers, seasoning and aromatic cilantro balance the taste with each bite.
Cilantro vs Culantro
Sunita explained that her original recipe from Trini includes culantro and not Cilantro (aka green Coriander).
Culantro grows elongated saw-like leaves and doesn't look like cilantro at all but they almost taste the same.
Hence why we can substitute Culantro with Cilantro in this recipe.
Seasoning
The seasoning is super simple here. It's just salt!
The salt, however, is important, so use quality salt because that will make all the difference in your mango chow.
I tend to use sea salt. Special Fleur de Sel will take your mango chow to a whole new level!
The salt kinds of marinated all the ingredients together and is the final touch to your Caribbean chow.
🔪 How to make it?
You will take about 5 minutes to prepare this snack.
Give the chow 15 minutes to rest so that the ingredients can soak in.
To make this mango chow follow the easy steps.
Step 1
Peel your mango and cut the fruit pulp from the seed core by cutting around.
The pulp can be cut into smaller pieces or dice.
Step 2
Chop your garlic and culantro/cilantro fine.
Cut your chili into fine slices. Use gloves if it's a how chili pepper.
Step 3
Add all the ingredients to a bowl, season with a sprinkle of salt to taste and mix it all well.
Leave to rest for at least 15 minutes.
I like my mango chow cooled on a hot day.
📜 Other chow recipes
- Pineapple Chow by carolinescooking.com
- Cucumber Chow
- Christmas Chow Chow by homemadezagat.com
- Green Apple Chow
Dear Reader, have you had a chance to try this mango chow?
📖 Recipe
Trinidad Mango Chow Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Piece Green Mangoes *see Notes
- 2 Chili Peppers fresh, *see Notes
- 3 Cloves Garlic Cloves chopped fine
- 1 Tablespoon Cilantro Fresh or Culantro if available
- ½ Teaspoon Salt or to taste
Instructions
- Peel your mango and cut the mango pulp from the seed core into smaller pieces or dices.
- Rinse your chili pepper and cut into thin slices. Discard seeds if you want o reduce heat. You may want to use gloves when cutting chilies.
- Peel garlic and chop fine. Chop rinsed and tapped dry cilantro (or culantro) fine.
- Place all ingredients into a bowl and season with salt.
- Combine the fresh ingredients at let rest for at least 15 minutes so that the ingredients can marinate.
- Best served cooled. I like my mango chow with crackers as a snack.
Notes
- Use semi, near ripe, green-skinned, mangoes.
- How much chili peppers to add depends on the pepper variety and your heat preferences.
- I use jalapenos and similar. A true Caribbean Trinidad mango chow will call for super hot habaneros or 7 pot chili peppers.
- Recipe courtesy Sunita Heeralal