I freaking love mangos. Mango Coconut Rice, mangos with chicken, mangos in a smoothie. Mangos ALL the time. It took me forever, though, to finally figure out how to cut a mango.
I used to go to our local Thai restaurant as often as possible to order their mango sticky rice. I'd even get some extra to take home at like $7 a pop, until I finally figured out how to create those even slices myself without making a total mess of my kitchen. Now I get all the indulgent, sweet, tropical flavor I can possibly handle…anytime I want!
Mangos all have a big, long flat pit in the middle of the fruit that cause a lot of people a lot of aggravation. Once you figure out how to cut around that thing, the rest of the steps for how to cut a mango are a cinch.
How to Cut a Mango in Three Easy Steps
- Slice around the middle of the mango, on either side, from end to end. You'll wind up with two mango “cheeks” as well as the hard middle portion. Toss the hard middle portion (or compost it).
- Using a paring knife, horizontally and vertically across the mango flesh of either cheek, taking care not to pierce the skin.
- Push the mango chunks up and scoop them off of the skin with a knife or spoon.
That's it! Once you get the hang of how to cut a mango, you can easily dish it up with rice, make a jelly out of it (my fave!), put it in a soup, yogurt, salsa, whatever floats your boat. You could even blend it up into a tasty bellini. I think it would be really good in this chai pudding in place of the banana and chocolate, or layered into a parfait. One of my favorite smoothie hacks is to gut up a bunch all at once and freeze it.
Mangoes are also really great to serve at parties, because they make a vibrant conversation piece. People have a lot of weirdly strong feelings about mangoes. Most people love them, and if you poll the room for opinions you're bound to get at least five differing thoughts on the best variety – especially when you have company from varying parts in the world. I love to see mangoes becoming a real staple in American food as our country becomes more diverse and the cuisine trends follow. One day, I'll eat mangoes on the beach in Thailand. It's a travel-foodie dream of mine, and I swear it's going to happen before my oldest son turns 10. Just a little over three years to go, so we can totally make this happen, right? Right.
Do you have a dream that mixes travel and food? One of my favorite ways to broaden our kids' cultural horizons is to pick varying parts of the world and spend a week teaching my kids how to cook a particular country's signature dishes. We've mastered Italian spaghetti, Mexican tacos, Thai mango rice and Chinese noodles.
Did you know how to cut a mango before you read this?