By Melissa Pette

In these long-drawn and boring rainy days, it seems like the day has many more hours. But you know what? There is a world beyond TikTok or Netflix.

Let's use our time productively, let's go to the kitchen and make some easy, natural, healthy and crazy mango sauce.

Did you try Costa Rican sauces? Possibly you have already visited those mom-and-pa small restaurants in your community, known as "soda",  and tried sweet tropical shrimp.

The secret of this appetizing dish is in the mango sauce which is a delicious Costa Rican traditional dressing.

Yes, mango is a delicious tropical fruit that we can use to fix a delicious cuckoo sauce. 

I found this sauce when I visited the country town of Sarchí. This is a small folk town in the southern zone of Alajuela Province. There it was in front of the town's sports plaza, the "Cantina del Pueblo" restaurant, something like the town's bar in Spanish.

Don Carlos, the owner-cashier-chief-waitress, was very kind to share his recipe with me. And now with you.

So, let's go to the kitchen!

The ingredients for six guests are:

- 2 large sweet yellow mangoes.

- 1 white onion.

- 1 teaspoon of garlic.

- 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder.

- 1/2 cup of white sugar or brown sugar.

- 1 tablespoon of vinegar.

- 1 cup of water.

- 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

- 1 teaspoon of pepper.

In a pot add 1/2 cup of oil, chopped onion, garlic and chili powder. When the onion is crystallized, add the pepper.

Remove the peel from the mango. Chop the pulp into squares. Add the mango to the pot and the rest of the olive oil. Mix everything gently. Add the vinegar and mix for one more minute.

Add the water and sugar. Mix for 4 more minutes. Remove the mango and reserve the broth in another container.

In a blender, add the mango and blend at a slow speed.

When the mango is ready, you can pass it through a strainer to remove the excess fiber.

I like fiber, but it is ultimately your call.

In a blender, add the mango (after passing it through the strainer), add the broth and the ingredients that you had reserved.

Remember to blend at a slow speed.

And there you go! Your Mango Loco sauce is ready to drive you crazy. It is the sweet perfect combination with salty fried shrimp, baked fish, or all those seafood dishes you like..... or vanilla ice cream!

Keep it in the fridge and heat it a little before eating, even with ice cream.

Have a Pura Vida weekend!

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Find more tasty step-by-step Costa Rican food recipes on the AM Costa Rica Food & Good Eating page. You are invited to share your favorite recipes with a horizontal photo of the dish by emailing food@amcostarica.com.