Green Mango Salad with Seafood
This Vietnamese Green Mango Salad with Seafood (Goi xoai xanh) is refreshing and delicious with contrasting flavors and textures complementing each other. It is also quick and simple to make.
Green mango salad with its sourness and crunchiness is well-loved in Vietnam, especially in the Central and Southern regions. I believe you may also come across green mango salad in Thai cuisine.
I shared a simple Vietnamese green mango salad recipe with fried fish a while ago. Today, I will share another popular one, green mango salad with shrimp and squid. We call it gỏi xoài xanh hải sản in Vietnamese.
Ingredients
To make this Vietnamese seafood salad, you will need the following ingredients:
🦐 Seafood: I like to use shrimp and squid, but the dish will still be very tasty with just shrimp. If you use squid, you will need to slice into either bite-sized pieces, strips or thin rings.
In the photo above, I score the squid and cut into small pieces. You can watch my video in the steamed squid recipe to see how to clean whole squid and score it.
🥭 Green mango: raw mango is the star of the salad together with the seafood. Make sure to choose unripe mangoes that are still very firm to the touch. Maybe not as hard as a rock since these can be too sour, but they should be very firm.
🌿 Other ingredients: these add-ins are quite typical in Vietnamese salads, such as rare beef in lime juice salad.
- Veggies: I recommend adding carrot and onion for more colors and varieties.
- Fresh herbs: you can use cilantro, spearmint and/or Thai basil. Red perilla leaves will also work, but they can be harder to find.
- Toppings: you can add fried shallots and/or roasted peanuts for extra crunch and taste.
- Dressing: you will need good quality fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice to make the dressing. Add several slices of bird’s eye chili if you prefer some kick.
In Vietnam, green mango salad with seafood is usually served with some crispy shrimp crackers on the side. You can find them at Asian grocery stores, but it’s fine to omit them.
How to Make Vietnamese Green Mango Salad
It is quite quick and simple to make this raw mango salad. This section will provide you with an overview and step-by-step images of the process.
1. Prepare the mango and veggies: you will need to julienne the green mango and carrot.
Also, slice the onion thinly. I recommend soaking the onion slices in a diluted vinegar mixture to reduce their rawness.
2. Poach the seafood: bring plenty of water to a boil and poach the shrimp and squid just until they are cooked through. Don’t overcook, or they will become dry and tough.
3. Assemble the salad: mix all ingredients for the dressing. Then add all the veggies, herbs, and seafood to a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing and give everything a toss.
Transfer the salad to serving plates, and now you can sprinkle roasted peanuts and fried shallots on top. You can serve it as part of a meal, or just enjoy it on its own.
How to Make Ahead
You can poach the seafood and slice the mango and other veggies up to one day in advance. Store the seafood and veggies separately in airtight containers in the fridge. The dressing can also be prepared ahead and stored separately. When you are ready to serve the dish, toss everything together.
Here are more filling salad recipes to try:
⭐️ I’d love to hear what you think about the dish, so please feel free to leave a comment and a rating if you have tried it. New recipes are added every week so let’s connect on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates. You can find my collection of Vietnamese recipes here.
Vietnamese Green Mango Salad with Seafood (Goi Xoai Xanh)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced yellow onions (45g)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 5.5 oz cleaned and gutted squid (155g)
- 5.5 oz raw shrimp with heads and shells intact (or about 4 oz/115g peeled raw shrimps)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- several slices of bird's-eye chili (optional)
- 1 green mango, peeled and julienned (about 14 oz/390g whole mango, or 2 cups/9 oz/250g julienned mango)
- 1/3 cup julienned carrots (40g)
- 4-5 cilantro sprigs, roughly chopped (about 20g)
- 4-5 sprigs of spearmint or Thai basil, roughly chopped (about 20g)
- 1 tablespoon shallot oil or extra virgin olive oil (see Notes for more details)
- 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
- 2 tablespoons fried shallots
Instructions
- Place onion slices in a small bowl and add 3-4 tablespoons of water (enough to roughly cover the onion) and rice vinegar. Set aside for about 10-15 minutes while preparing other ingredients. Give it a quick rinse with water before using.
- Slice squid into either bite-sized pieces, strips or thin rings.
- Bring a large pot with plenty of water to a boil. Then add the shrimps and poach for about 1-1½ minutes (depending on their size) if they are still in their shells or under a minute if they are already peeled. Transfer to a bowl with cold water to stop the cooking process. Peel off the shells once they are cool enough to handle.
- Let the water come back to a boil, and then add the squid slices. Poach for about 45-60 seconds (depending on the thickness) or until just cooked through. Transfer to a bowl with cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Add fish sauce and sugar to a small bowl. Stir well to combine or place the bowl in the microwave and microwave for about 30 seconds to fully dissolve the sugar. The mixture will be slightly thick. Add the lime juice and bird's-eye chili (if using).
- To a large mixing bowl, add julienned green mango, carrot, onion, shrimp, squid, cilantro and mint (or Thai basil). Drizzle the dressing and shallot oil, then give everything a toss.
- Transfer to serving plates and sprinkle roasted peanuts and fried shallots generously on top. Serve right away.
I love mango. This salad looks very tasty. I will definitely try.