Fresh Fenugreek Salad with Mango

This vibrant Indian-inspired fresh fenugreek salad with mango and mustard dressing will be a welcome addition to your salad repertoire. It is quick and easy to put together and will both fill you up and make you smile! In addition to how nice it looks, the beauty of this salad is that it can be as sweet or as pungent as you like, served in a big heap as a fresh first course, or a small pile as a refreshing side dish, or as a palate cleanser with a cheese course. It is especially energising when served alongside heavy Indian feasts. A healthy, delicious, and refreshing plant-based salad!

This salad will definitely blow you away with its complex, taste bud-awakening flavours and mixture of textures. It uses green mango, which is mango that hasn’t ripened yet but is fully edible. It’s not an unusual way to use this fruit in Indian cuisine, and it adds a crunchy, tangy, and slightly nutty taste to the salad. Mango is combined with fresh fenugreek leaves, spring onions, crisp apples, radish, cucumber along with fresh coriander, roasted peanuts and sesame seeds. All of these vibrant assortment of ingredients are then tossed together in a refreshing lemony mustard dressing and finished with mustard seed and curry leaves tempering.

A fresh, zingy, delicious spicy Indian salad that’s the perfect healthy side dish to go alongside curries, kebabs, spicy burgers or perfect as a light summery lunch.

Why You Should Try This Recipe

• It’s incredibly refreshing. Fresh fenugreek leaves have a nutty, earthy flavour with a distinct but pleasant bitterness. Green mango is less sweet than a ripe mango, with a subtle sourness, making it perfect for salads.
• Super healthy. fenugreek leaves are a nutritional powerhouse. And the dressing is prepared without any mayo or fat!
• It takes less than 20 minutes to prepare. Clean the fenugreek leaves, shred the mango and cucumber, prep rest of the veggies. Toss to coat with the dressing, and serve! It’s as easy as that!

What are Fenugreek Leaves? How does it taste? Where to buy it?

Fenugreek leaves has various other names like Methi, Bird’s Foot, and Goat’s Horn. In Hindi, it is also called Methi. It has different names in different regions in India. They are the foliage of the fenugreek plant and the entire plant of fenugreek is edible – from the whole seeds, which are called fenugreek seeds (these can also be ground to a powder).

The fresh leaves which are called fenugreek (methi). And finally the leaves which have been dried, called Kasturi Methi (dried fenugreek leaves). They are commonly used as an herb and a leafy green in various cuisines, particularly in Indian, Middle Eastern, and North African cooking.

Fenugreek leaves have a unique and distinct flavour that is slightly bitter, nutty, earthy, and reminiscent of celery or fennel. When eaten raw, the fresh leaves have a distinct but pleasant bitterness just like rocket leaves. They have a distinctive flavour and provide a strong aromatic quality to dishes. They can be used fresh or dried, depending on the recipe and availability.

One can buy fresh fenugreek leaves at any local Indian grocery store. When purchasing fenugreek leaves, you can typically find them in bunches. The leaves are small, green, and delicate, resembling clover leaves in shape. The bunches usually consist of the leaves and the tender stems attached.

Ingredients To make Fresh Fenugreek Salad with Mango

In this fresh, herby salad recipe, we use a base of fenugreek greens and add raw mango, fresh coriander, cucumbers, radish, green onions and peanuts. However, you can add any veggies you like and have on hand. A lemony mustard vinaigrette works well to dress the salad.

• Fenugreek Leaves are slightly bitter, nutritive herb that’s rich in beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin K, and minerals. It’s a delicious salad with slight bitter note, but the greens also form a foundation for other ingredients in this recipe.
• Unripe Mango  are essential to this recipe, you absolutely need to use unripe mangoes. Even though it might appear yellow/orange on the inside, the mango should be firm and crispy, unlike ripe mangoes. You will cut them julienned, or thinly sliced.
• Cucumber and radish add crunch and freshness to the salad. Use Persian cucumbers for a refreshing and crispy texture.
• Green onions give a fresh, herbaceous and alliaceous flavour to a dish – a bit of texture, it can add lots of brightness to dishes.
• Granny Smith Apple compliments the bitter fenugreek and add a crunch.
• Roasted Peanuts gives the salad a nutty, earthy flavour and the needed crunch.
• Coriander has a delicate sweet flavour, and aroma.

Lemon Mustard Dressing Ingredients

I much prefer simple vinaigrettes over creamy dressings and find that their flavours enhance and elevates the fresh vegetables or ingredients you’re pairing with them. This lemon vinaigrette dressing recipe is super simple to make. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Lemon zest – to give extra lemony flavour and cut the bitterness on the fenugreek
• Fresh lemon juice – To make it zippy and bright!
• Mustard Powder – has rich savoury undertones, which compliments the dish
• Grainy mustard – For tangy depth of flavour.
• Agave or maple syrup – its sweetness perfectly balances the aromatic fenugreek, lemon, and mustard.
• Fresh coriander– it’s optional, but if you ask me, herbs make everything better. With its fresh, aromatic flavour, it adds something special to this lemon vinaigrette.
• And salt and pepper – To make all the flavours pop!
• Vegetable oil – It gives the dressing body and richness.

How to make Fresh Fenugreek Leaves Salad with and Mango

1. Clean and pick the fenugreek leaves.
2. Shred the mango, slice the cucumber and radish. Begin by peeling the mango and shredding them into long strips. You can use a vegetable grater (I personally used this multifunction peeler grater) or a food processor fitted with the grating blade. Slice the cucumber into thin strips. Chop the coriander and green onions.
3. Prepare the dressing. Add lemon zest, juice, mustard powder, grainy mustard, agave, salt and black pepper to a small bowl, and whisk to combine. Then gradually pour in the oil, whisking continuously until the dressing is emulsified.
4. Toss to coat. Toss the mango and vegetables with the sauce.
5. Garnish. roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, pickled mustard (optional) and edible flowers, and serve!

Tempering the Salad

Tempering of spices is a traditional method to extract the full flavour from spices. Commonly known as “Tadka” in India. It captures and maintains the essence and aroma of the spices in hot oil, infusing the final dish with a distinct flavour and fragrance. It’s made using whole spices. Heat oil in a small Tadka Pan and add mustard seeds and hing (Asafoetida) and chopped curry leaves. Cook until the mustard seeds pop. Add the sesame seeds and let it cool a bit. Pour over the salad. Mix well.

Helpful Tips and Tricks to Make Fresh Fenugreek Leaves Salad with Mango

• Fenugreek leaves are bitter and can get a lot more bitter when cooked.  To get rid of the bitterness in fenugreek leaves (Methi) is to sprinkle some salt over chopped methi and let it rest for 20 minutes. Then squeeze the leaves to get all the salty water out .
• Make sure that your salad leaves are completely dry before adding them to your salad. Either by draining them in a colander and then patting them dry with a clean kitchen towel.
• Or my absolute favourite method is to spin the leaves dry in a salad spinner; this way, the mustard vinaigrette will stick to the salad leaves without watering down the dressing.
• Add the vinaigrette to the salad just before serving to prevent it from going soggy.
• This recipe works best with green mangos, (unripened mangos) which have a tangy flavour. You can use either green mangos or ripe mangos to make this recipe but the flavours will change.
• If preparing this recipe ahead of time, don’t dress it until you are ready to serve it. 
• You can substitute peanuts in this recipe with roasted cashews.

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Fresh Fenugreek Leaves Salad with Mango

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cooking Time: 2 Minutes 2 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 9 voted )

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Ingredients

For the Salad

• 1 large bunch fenugreek leaves, cleaned and picked
• 1 unripe mango , julienned
• 1 Persian cucumber, sliced
• 1 granny smith apple, cut into wedges
• 5-6 red radish, sliced
• 2 green onions, chopped
• ¼ cup coriander leaves, chopped
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely pounded
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

For the Dressing

• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 lemon juice, (25 ml)
• 1 tbsp agave
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp grainy mustard
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1.5 tbsp vegetable oil

For Tempering 

• ½ tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 7-8 curry leaves, roughly chopped
• ½ tbsp sesame seeds

method

1. 1. Wash the fenugreek leaves and remove all the dirt. Pick the leaves and discard the stems. Dry the leaves completely.
   2. Shred your mangoes with either a vegetable peeler or just finely chop the mango into slices. 
   3. Slice the cucumber and radish. Chop the green onions and coriander. Cut the apples into wedges. 
   4. Mix the fenugreek, mango, green onion, red radish, cucumbers, coriander, and peanuts together in a bowl. Set aside.
   5. For the dressing,In a mixing bowl  with a microplane zester zest the lemon, add juice of 1 the lemon, mustard powder, grainy mustard, agave, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Now gradually pour in the oil, whisking continuously until the dressing is emulsified. 
   6. Just before serving add the dressing to the salad. Mix well
   7. Prepare the tempering - Heat oil in a small Tadka Pan and add mustard seeds  and chopped curry leaves. Cook until the mustard seeds pop. Add the sesame seeds and let it cool a bit. Pour over the salad. Mix well. 
   8. Garnish with more peanuts and herbs.

Did You Make This Recipe?

If you did, take a picture and tag me on Instagram at @poetryofspices!