Mango… in quinoa-salad and a stir-fry

I have a mango and about two handfuls of sugar snap peas… what to do? I googled those items plus vegan and perhaps zucchini and stir-fry… I came across two recipes that peaked my interests. Mango, Black Bean, and Quinoa Salad and Cinco de Mango Salad, I had it in my head that I wanted some brown jasmine rice and a stir-fry. Oh, I also thought I’d like to make the stir-fry sauce with the orange I had on hand. I only needed to get a few items from the store (shallots, red bell pepper, scallions, & cilantro). I already had an idea of how I was going to change these recipes so I did not need to get some of the other items like radishes or mayo. As it turns out, there were not any scallions at the store, so I used shallots instead. I also decided to half both of these dishes since I only had one mango.

Mango, Black Bean, and Quinoa Salad
adapted from joanne-eatswellwithothers.blogspot.com (Eats Well with Others)

1/2 cup quinoa ( I used Ancient Harvest – traditional)
1 cup water
1 tsp. better than bouillon vegetable base

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 mango, peeled and cubed
1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp cumin
1/2 lime, juiced
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 handful cilantro, roughly chopped

• Cook quinoa according to the package directions. For mine, I brought 1 cup water to boiling, added the bouillon base, then added 1/2 cup quinoa. I was only making a 1/2 batch. I let it simmer covered for 10-15 minutes. Then take it off the heat, and transfer to another dish and cover (I used a glass bowl and the pot cover).
• Next, (I used the quinoa pot) heat olive oil in a pot on med-high heat. Add the bell pepper and shallot, sauté for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to med, add the mango, black beans, and cumin, stir to combine. Cook until heated through.
• Side note: I like to slice my citrus fruit and then squeeze each slice over dish, I feel I get more juice that way.
• Mix in the lime, salt, and pepper, to taste. Take off the heat. Stir in the quinoa and cilantro.

So that was pretty close to the original recipe… now for the fun part… experimenting.
Like I said, I wanted stir-fry, so I decided to take the Cinco de Mango Salad and turn it into a stir-fry! 😀

Cinco de Mango Salad Stir-fry
inspired by noteatingoutinny.com (Not Eating Out in NY)

2 cups water
1 cup brown jasmine rice

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 inch piece of ginger, pealed and minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into ~1 inch squares
2 cups sugar snap peas, cut in half on the diagonal
1/2 ripe mango, peeled and cubed
1 zucchini, cut in half and then sliced on the diagonal
1 small head Boston (butter) lettuce, thinly sliced chiffonade
1 handful fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
juice of an orange
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
splash of tamari ( I used SAN-J reduced sodium)
splash or two of ginger-lime marinade & cooking sauce (I used the Ginger People)

1-2 Tbsp. cornstarch
splash aji-mirin ( I used kikkoman)

• First start the rice, my jasmine rice takes 50 minutes cooking time and 10 minutes resting time. Bring 2 cups water and 1 cup rice to a boil, stir. Reduce heat to simmer and start timer for 50 minutes. Sometimes, I have to tilt the lid so that it doesn’t boil over those first few minutes… it’ll calm down and then you can re-cover it properly.
• Side note: I like to chop and cook, chop and cook. Rather than chop everything first.
• Heat olive oil in a wok on med-high heat. Sauté shallots, ginger, and garlic for about 5 minutes.
• Lower heat to med. and slice the carrots, add to wok. Then the red bell pepper. Next the sugar snap peas.
• Add the mango and the zucchini.
• Now the lettuce ribbons, cilantro, orange juice, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, tamari, and marinade. Cover and simmer about 5-10 minutes until vegetables are crisp tender.
• Now we assess the liquid situation… it looks a bit too liquid-y…




Cornstarch Method

• Take a small amount of liquid and place in a bowl, next add 1 Tbsp. cornstarch to liquid in bowl and stir until combined — see pictures below.



• Why do this step? It prevents clumps of cornstarch in your food. Once cornstarch, in its powdered form, hits that hot sauce it’ll seize and make a giant mess. This method is tried and true! It thickens your sauce without the clumps.
• Add this to the stir-fry…



• Then assess again… needs just a bit more…



• Repeat cornstarch method mentioned above…



• Much better…



• Taste sauce… mine needed a bit more sweetness… I added a splash of aji-mirin.
• Serve over brown jasmine rice.

I plated the stir-fry with the quinoa (I was craving whole grains) and some fresh baked bread (Roasted garlic & potato).

Now it might seem that these dishes wouldn’t go together, but oddly since they had a lot of the same ingredients (mango, red bell pepper, cilantro) they went together like a dream! Enjoy! 😀

Rating: Awesome!

The leftovers test… passed with flying colors! The crushed red pepper intensified – nice! Also, I added a handful of peanuts to the heated stir-fry. Yummy!