Vietnamese mango and chicken salad

Chicken second courses

This salad is my riff on a banana flower salad my local pho restaurant serves. The banana flower has a slightly bitter and astringent quality. It's julienned in the salad and combined with shredded chicken and pink grapefruit. The whole dish is dressed with a tangy and herbaceous dressing, which makes it a sprightly accompaniment to a bowl of pho. I wanted to make a similar salad using green mango. Green mango is tart but not bitter and has just a little astringency; with a little tweaking of the flavor of the dressing, it works beautifully in this salad. The result is a fresh and lively dish that's perfect on its own as a light meal or paired with a Southeast Asian curry or noodle dish. <br /> <br />This recipe calls for rau ram, a Vietnamese herb, that has oblong leaves marked with a chevron shape (sometimes subtle, so look closely). It can be found in Asian markets and has a fresh, grassy, cilantro-like flavor. It can also be called Vietnamese mint. If you can't find it, just add additional mint and basil to the recipe or use cilantro instead.