Biting into a piece of tart mango and sweet sticky rice is one of the biggest food bummers of all time, in my opinion. Only then will they be good enough to pair with the sweet coconut sticky rice. That is when I know they are perfectly ripe and sweet with no trace of tartness left.
#Three toed mango peeler skin#
However, personally, I would let them sit on the kitchen counter for 2-3 more days until the taut skin turns a bit wrinkly. The mangoes shown here present an example of what ripe mangoes look like. If you see this type of mango at your local grocery store, by all means, buy them by the case. In stark contrast to the disgusting greenish-reddish mangoes that are available all year round in the US, Ataulfo mangoes have all the characteristics of good eating mangoes: meaty, non-fibrous, fragrant, and very sweet. They’re light green when green (oh, so helpful …) and dark yellow with a tint of orange when ripe. The closest thing to the aforementioned Ok-Rong and Nam-Dokmai is Manila or Ataulfo mangoes (shown here) which are widely available in the US. Respectable Thai restaurants in the US always pull this dessert off the menu when good mangoes are out of season. Though pairing other types of mango with the coconut sticky rice probably would not result in one being murdered and buried in an unmarked grave, it would most definitely result in the perpetrator being stared down by a mob of miffed Thais. As far as I know, only two types of mangoes are principally used for this very purpose: Ok-Rong and Nam-Dokmai. The mango rules kick in big time when it comes to choosing the right types of mango to pair with sweet coconut sticky rice. We’re a bunch of neurotic mango sticklers, I guess. Certain types of mango are used exclusively to make mango-based chutneys, relishes, or dipping sauces. Certain types of green mango are to be served in paper-thin slices certain types are to be cut into long spears. Certain types of mango are made to be eaten when they’re green certain types are made to be eaten when they’re ripe.
Though these rules are not written, they’re instinctively followed. Mango rules are one example of things that never change. Thailand might be a country that seems to get a new prime minister and cabinet every Tuesday afternoon as we take our time deciding just what kind of democracy we dig the most, but certain things remain static. (I have previously stepped on some international toes by expressing my shamelessly-bigoted opinion in my post on mango-lime jam). The Thai people are very picky when it comes to mango. For those meant to be eaten when fully ripe, we would let them ripen, undisturbed, in the basement. For the ones meant to be consumed when green, we would eat them right away. My grandmother would snap full-grown, yet green, mangoes right off the branches, one by one, with a bamboo basket attached to the tip of a long pole. By the time April rolled around, these wee mangoes would have grown into full-sized mangoes, ready for harvest. At a risk of sounding like a kid who didn’t have a life, one of my favorite things to do was checking on the growth of the mangoes every morning before I left for school. Then the withered flowers gave way to baby mangoes the size of the tip of your pinkie. They started budding and blooming in the colder months of December through mid-February. In the backyard of the house in which I grew up there were at least five different kinds of mango trees.
#Three toed mango peeler full#
It’s like nature’s way of apologizing for turning on the heat and humidity full blast during the months of April and May. The fact that the mango season is closely followed by the durian season only increases the joy ten-folds. We love mangoes and durians, as do most other Thai families. At least, there was excitement to that degree in our family. The beginning of the mango season in Thailand can only be described as magnificent in the most literal meaning of its Latin etymology.
This time of year, those in Thailand are starting to see more and more mangoes in the market and I’m here in Chicago totally depressed. Okay, I’m going to remain ducking under the table until you Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian, Filipino readers put away your broomsticks. So even if I do think Thai mangoes are the best, I rarely say that out loud. But if you put them all together in one place and one happens to make a bad move of claiming the types of mango (banana, coconut, etc.) found in his/her country are superior to those found in the rest of the region, things could get awkward at best and ugly at worst. Southeast and South Asian people are usually gentle and polite - sometimes to the point of being shy and withdrawn - in social situations.
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