Wednesday, March 11, 2009

mango tacos

Some sweet Hawaii news: Geof and I have found the house that we will move into in June! From what he tells me, it sounds great: lots of living space, big yard, three bedrooms, nice kitchen, short walk to the beach, etc. The place has all the fixings that a midwestern country girl could ever hope for. But one thing in particular captivated my attention more so than the abundance of bathrooms or the availability of free parking. Perhaps the sweetest thing of all, for the first time in my life, I am going to have a mango tree!

Simply put, mangos are the best-tasting food in the whole entire world.  Better than strawberries, better than Bush Stadium hot dogs, better than mexican food, better than buffalo chicken fingers with ranch (although I now wonder if I could make a mango-honey buffalo sauce; that sounds pretty dank.) I am mango for mangos. I love them, and now I will see them grow in my very front yard! I would eat the fruit everyday if the growing season would allow it. And because their sweet, tangy flavor is so versatile, a lot of meals could actually benefit from a mango addition.   

Point at hand: I was messing around in the kitchen a few days ago, battling the never-ending challenge thinking of something healthy, yet delicious to make. I had just bought two ripe mangoes from the grocery store, so I started fooling around with fruit and chicken ideas.

Twenty minutes later, mango tacos were born. And, OH MAN were they delicious. Here is what I did:

What you need: 
1/2 mango
1 chicken breast
1 tablespoon sugar, give or take
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 bottle of low fat asian ginger salad dressing
flour tortillas
chopped romaine lettuce (if you like lettuce in your tacos.)(I do. It adds crunch.)    

1. Get the chicken breast marinating in the asian ginger salad dressing. Peel and dice the 1/2 mango and put into a bowl. Toss the diced mango with the sugar to pull some juice out of the fruit.

2. After thirty minutes or so of letting the mango sit in the sugar, slice the chicken into short strips. Begin cooking the chicken strips in a skillet.

3. After the chicken looks thoroughly cooked, add the mango (and all of its juices) to the chicken. Sauté the mixture on medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes, adding as much or as little as red pepper as you like. The more red pepper, the higher the heat. 

4. After cooking the chicken with the mango, dish it out into the flour tortillas. Add chopped romaine lettuce for some extra crunch or drizzle some asian ginger dressing on the taco for some extra flavor. Enjoy the low fat, mango-tastic dish!  


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