Spicy Mango Kani Salad

Mango Kani Salad is a chilled light and refreshing side dish made with a bed of lettuce, a medley of stripped crab sticks, sliced cucumber, carrots, topped with fresh and ripe mango cubes. What made this dish extra special is the use of Japanese-grade mayonnaise which puts the all the creaminess into every piece. This recipe is inspired with the original Japanese version of the mango kani salad. Both creamy and a little spicy with some nutty sesame seeds, the mango kani salad can be enjoyed as an appetizer, a side dish, or a filling to a rice paper wrapper. Yum!

WHAT IS A KANI?

You probably heard about kani when it comes to Japanese dishes. The word “kani” is simply the Japanese term for crab meat!

While the crab is usually enjoyed in as an ulam in our country, the kani is usually used in soups, salads and sushi in Japan. Some of the most famous dishes which uses the kani is the mango kani salad which will be featured in this article. The mango kani salad, especially when the Japanese Kewpie Mayo is used, will totally change the way you look at salads.

Since the real crab meat is truly expensive, imitation crabsticks using fish were made. Most of the kani used in kani salads from local restaurants use imitation crabs.

MANGO KANI SALAD

The salad is one of the best dishes you can make since you can add anything healthy that you like. After many handaans or a lot of junkfoods and oily lechon and chicharon, a vegetable salad is my go-to meal. This is my way of making “bawi” to myself and to my “New Year, New Me” health goals.

Since salads are mostly vegetables, salads are one of the type of dishes which makes us eat healthier and makes us feel younger. A basic salad is often comprised of some green leafy veggies like lettuce and cabbage or kale and some sliced tomatoes and cucumber, drizzled with a bit of mayo or salad dressing. I’ve been less experimenting with my veggie salad unlike with my savoury meals. Since the new year, I’ve been eating my fave veggie salad for the whole month as my afternoon snack, but got a little umay since it’s the same veggie salad all over again.

This month, I decided to put more emphasis with my salads and started looking for salad recipes which will make my afternoon more exciting. Did you know that you can make your salad with more than lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes! Stop with your boring salad and let’s get on with this mango kani salad!

I actually have tasted this salad before at Tokyo Tokyo but only had a little portion of it since my niece ate the most from their little bowl. Since I wasnt able to appreciate the dish, mango kani salad went on top of my list among the salads to try. Looking at the recipes online, the ingredients on how to make this salad are all available at the local market (except for the real crab sticks where I substituted with the imitation crab). Aside from the ingredients listed below, you can add some tobiko or the orange flying fish roe eggs and some panko breadcrumbs if you have extra budget. Super yummy!

The mango kani salad is truly a different type of salad. With the presence of the crab sticks, this salad is both savoury, refreshing and super healthy at the same time. Have a healthy dish in a delicious way with this mango kani salad! This salad is best served to people who wants to eat healthy but do not know how to start.

If you wanna know how to prepare some mango kani salad, simply read and follow the quick and easy steps below. Happy preparing!

HOW TO MAKE MANGO KANI SALAD

The mango kani salad is as easy as any other types of salad. If you have tried any fresh salads in the past, then this will be a super easy recipe for you.

With a salad recipe, all we need to do is to prepare the ingredients individually at first, and then arrange them in a nice manner so all the flavors will go along one another. Since this is a mango kani salad, a big portion of the dish will come from the kani or the crabsticks.

To be honest, real crabsticks are very hard to find and are equally expensive. To make this dish more economical, we can use imitation crabsticks, or those that you commonly see at the grocery together with the fishballs, orlian, and other shabu-shabu ingredients. Instead of real crabs, these crabsticks are made with white fish and then infused with crab flavor and presented into orange striped sticks, to resemble the figure of the real ones. To prepare the imitation crab sticks, simply pull them into strips using your hands. These type of crab sticks are often pre-cooked but you can boil them a little first if you like.

Now that the main ingredient is prepared, the ingredients like the cucumber and carrot should also be sliced in strips. Once all the ingredients are prepared, toss them all to a large bowl and then add your final touches–the mayo, vinegar, pepper, salt, sesame oil and lemon juice. These seasonings will give the extra acidity and enhances the flavor of the dish as a whole

Note: For this specific salad, the best mayo to use is the Kewpie Japanese mayo. This blog is not sponsored but this brand is extra creamy and flavorful when compared to local brands. You can still use your regular mayo, but the salad won’t taste at its best. I swear if you tasted this Japanese mayo, you won’t go back to your regular mayo, even for your dipping sauce!

To complete the salad, prepare a thin bed of lettuce leaves and add the salad on top of them. Finish this dish with some fresh mango cubes and some sesame seeds on top. You can use both white and black sesame seeds for color. I usually drizzle more Japanese mayo on top because I love it so much! Yum!

I enjoy my mango kani salad often as a chilled appetizer. Best served when chilled!

Mango Kani Salad Recipe in Tagalog

Mga sangkap:

• 145 grams crabsticks
• 1 kutsarang lemon
• ½ kutsaritang paminta
• ½ tasang japanese mayonnaise
• asin pampalasa
• suka
• 1 kutsaritang sesame oil
• 1 pipino
• 1 carrot
• toasted sesame seeds
• lettuce
• mangga

Paano lutuin:

1. Ihanda ang mga sangkap. Hiwain ang pipino at carrot sa maninipis na strips at hiwain naman ang mangga pa-cubes. Tanggalin ang plastic na balot ng crab sticks at himay-himayin ito gamit ang mga kamay.isantabi pagkatapos.
2. Sa maliit na bowl, paghalu-haluin ang japanese mayonnaise, suka, paminta, sesame oil, asin at lemon juice.
3. Ihalo ang pipino, carrots at crabsticks sa ginawang mixture sa isang malaking bowl. Haluing mabuti.
4. para iarrange ang salad, kumuha ng ilang dahon ng lettuce at ilatag sa serving plate. pagkatapos ay ilagay sa ibabaw ang kani salad na hinalo kanina at lagyan ng mangga sa ibabaw. Dagdagan ng japanese mayonnaise at budburan ng sesame seeds.
5. Palamigin sa ref nang ilang oras bago iserve. Kainin ang mango kani salad bilang appetizer o side dish. Yum!