Watermelon and cucumber salad with fish sauce vinaigrette

Crisp cucumber chunks and thin radish slices pickled in a tangy vinaigrette with a slight chilli heat, balanced by the sweet, cool watermelon.

Credit: Danielle Abou Karam

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 short cucumbers (or 1 long), seeded and cut into 3-cm chunks
• 80 g rainbow radish, thinly sliced with a mandolin
• ¼ seedless watermelon, rind removed, cut into 1.5 cm-thick triangles
• ½ cup coriander sprigs
• ½ cup mint leaves
• crispy fried shallots, to serve

Fish sauce vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp golden caster sugar or demerara sugar
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 small red chilli, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp calamansi juice or lime juice
• 2 tbsp cane vinegar or rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Serves 4-6 as a side

Marinating time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. For the vinaigrette, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Add the cucumber and radish, toss to combine, then refrigerate for up to 1 hour to pickle.
2. Just before serving, drain the cucumber and radish, reserving the vinaigrette.
3. To serve, place the watermelon, cucumber and radish on a serving platter and scatter with the herbs. Drizzle with the vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper and scatter with the fried shallots.
   
   

 

Photography by Danielle Abou Karam.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.