Li Hing Pickle Mango

Li Hing Pickle Mango


Drooling yet?
We’ll keep today’s post short and sweet. Well, and kinda’ tangy, too, along with plenty of “zippity-zip-zap POW”!!!
I recently got a couple good sized green Haden-Pirie hybrid mangoes from my coworker’s yard, who noted this season hasn’t yielded much mature fruit on his tree worth harvesting. As you know, summer is mango season in Hawaii nei, which according to a news report, this year is expected to be  “junk” for mangoes (and lychee) due to “unusual weather” conditions. Kinda’ unnerving, actually.
So anyway, with those two still-green mangoes, I decided to make Pickle Mango, this time with a major Li Hing twist.
My recipe for this here absolutlely “supah onolicious, broke da’ mout’ winnahz!” Li Hing Pickled Mango is as followed (an adaptation from Sam Choy). Note this recipe doesn’t have the star anise and Chinese 5-Spice like I’ve used in the past, as the Li Hing powder makes up for that.
Li Hing Pickle Mango
2 or more large green mangoes (whatevah kine you get), peeled and sliced into long, skinny and thick bite-sized pieced
1 cup rice vinegar
2 cups water
2½ cups light brown sugar
3 tbsp. Hawaiian salt
2 tbsp. Li Hing powder (I used Jade brand, which is my favorite)
Red food coloring (optional, yet highly recommended for that drool-inducing appearance)
1 small package Sweet Li Hing Mui (I also used Jade brand, which is my favorite)
In a small pot boil 2 cups water, turn off heat, then add the 2½ cups light brown sugar and salt and stir to to dissolve it. Add more water if needed to loosen it up. Remove from heat and add Rice vinegar, Li Hing Powder, and just a few drops of the red food coloring, to the point where it has a “dramatic” red color to it. For the Li Hing powder, go by taste.
In fact, go by your own taste with EVERYTHING. If you want it more sweet, add more sugar. More acidic, add more vinegar. Use that recipe as a basic guideline and go from there.
Once the finished Li Hing Pickle Mango “juice” is completely stirred and incorporated, let it cool in the fridge (or quickly in the freezer). Place peeled and sliced pickled mango in an appropriate sized jar and tightly pack it in to displace as much volume in the jar as possible, then pour cooled Li Hing Pickle Mango “sauce” into jar with green mango and fill to top and cover tightly. Let it sit in refrigerator for at least 3 days to fully soak up the Li Hing pickling “juice”.
Whack ‘em ‘n enjoy.

Related Tasty Island links:
• Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Mango
• There’s Pickled, Then There’s Shoyu Mango
• Mayo’ Mango Madness
• Mango Bruschetta