Cook Lun first crushes the mango lightly in a mortar in order to bring out its aroma – quite in the manner of elephants in southern Thailand that thrash palm frond against a stone, not so much to make it softer but to rid it of insects and dirt.
Salad with Green Mango and Anchovies
Asian stores in Europe sell two types of mangoes: unripe sweet mangoes and sour mangoes. Either type of mango can be used in the preparation of this salad – and produce different results, of course. When unripe sweet mangoes are used, the salad is fruitier; with sour mangoes it is saltier and tangier. We normally use sour mangoes – as does Lun, Raina and Gobli's cook, in whose kitchen in Bangkok Santa Lemusan secret agent Hektor Maille learned much about Thai cooking.
2 small, green, sour mangoes of about 200 gm each (or one bigger sweet but unripe mango of 300 to 400 gm)
2 carrots of avout 100 g each
2 tablespoons dried anchovies of about 5 cm
2 to 4 chillies of the Bird's Eye type, stalk removed and slightly chopped
1 pod garlic, peeled and roughly chopped or pressed
3 teaspoons palm sugar (or 2 teaspoons white sugar)
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, slightly crushed
For decoration some leaves of basil Horapa or red chillies
![]() |
![]() |
More about the travel adventure of Secret Agent Hektor Maille:
As hard as Maille found it to get Jelena Jansson to speak to him, as easy did he find it to conjure up the following menu under the direction of cook Lun:
First Publication: 30-1-2010
Modifications: 25-1-2011, 19-6-2011, 14-11-2011, 14-12-2011