Watermelon Rind Salad - Refreshing and Easy to Make
Collect the watermelon rind - the green/white flesh just under the tough green outer skin; slice into julienne-style matchsticks. Prepare the dressing: mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, galangal powder, minced garlic, red chilli paste and jaggery. Trim and slice asparagus, then microwave for 1 min (Hi) with a pinch of salt and a splash of water. Slice green onions. Toss together all ingredients, along with hand-torn Thai basil leaves, crushed roasted peanuts, hemp seeds, black sesame seeds and prepared dressing. Garnish with asparagus tips, Thai basil sprigs and serve over Romaine lettuce. Enjoy!
Equipment
- Glass/Ceramic microwave safe bowl to quick-cook the asparagus in the microwave. If microwave is not available, see Recipe Notes for alternate cooking directions.
- Glass/Ceramic Salad bowl If not available, stainless steel bowl is fine as well. Note: Please do NOT use aluminum trays for mixing/storing/serving this salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup Watermelon rind - about 80 g cut into matchsticks - julienned
- 2 tbsp Fresh Asparagus - (about 3-4 spears - sliced into 1/4 inch pieces - leave 1 inch tips whole for garnish I do NOT recommend using frozen or canned asparagus in this recipe
- 1/4 cup Fresh Green onions - sliced into 1/4 inch pieces (about 3-4 scallion stalks)
- 1/4 cup Fresh Thai Basil - hand-torn or coarsely chopped if not available, use chopped Cilantro instead; it has a slightly different flavor, of course.
- 4-5 whole Grape/Cherry tomatoes - halved lengthwise If not available, use about 3 tbsp regular tomatoes, (diced medium)
- 1 tsp Roasted peanuts - coarsely crushed
- 1 tsp Hemp Seeds (hulled) If not available, substitute with coarsely crushed roasted peanuts
- 1 tsp Black Sesame seeds If not available, use brown/white sesame seeds instead; if no sesame seeds are available, simply omit and use extra (1 tsp) crushed roasted peanuts instead.
- 1/4 cup Thai Basil - hand-torn or coarsely chopped Note: Tear/chop leaves just before serving - they have a tendency to turn dark and discolored very quickly; Reserve 2-3 sprig tips for garnish (at the end)
- 4-5 leaves Crisp Romaine leaves if not available, use any other available lettuce variety
For the Salad Dressing
- 1 tbsp Soy sauce - low sodium preferred To make soy-free dressing, use coconut aminos instead
- 2 tsp Rice vinegar or Apple cider vinegar If using apple cider vinegar, I recommend using the unfiltered, unpasteurized kind
- 1/2 tsp Dried Galangal powder If not available, use 1/2 tsp dried ginger powder, or 1/2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp Fresh Garlic - minced NOTE: OMIT if using fresh red chilli-garlic paste, other wise it will become way too garlicky!
- 1/4 tsp Fresh red chilli paste (without garlic) Home-made (see link in Recipe notes) or store bought ('Sambal Oelek' is excellent); you can add up to 1/4 tsp more if you like it spicy; NOTE: If using fresh red chilli-garlic paste, omit adding fresh minced garlic - see note above.
- 2 tsp Jaggery Gul/Gud ( Marathi/Hindi); unrefined sugar if not available, use brown sugar or even regular white sugar
Garnish
- 2-3 tips Thai Basil sprig tips Note: Tear/chop leaves just before serving - they have a tendency to turn dark and discolored very quickly.
Instructions
- Slice the watermelon into 1/2 inch slices. Then use a sturdy knife to slice away the tough green skin.
- Now collect the white rind. Once the skin and rind is removed, you can cut up the sweet and juicy red fruit.
- Thinly slice the rind pieces into match-sticks.Yeah, it's a bit time-consuming, but unless you're making a huge batch, it really isn't too bad.Besides, you can do all this up to a couple of days in advance!
- Make the simple salad dressing, inspired by the flavors of Thai-style Green Papaya Salad.Measure the soy sauce into a small bowl and add apple cider vinegar, fresh red chilli paste, galangal powder (or ginger powder) and minced garlic.
- Add jaggery, stir and set aside to allow flavors the blend while you prepare and assemble all the salad ingredients.
- Prepare the asparagus:Trim the woody ends of each asparagus spear by letting it snap naturally near the bottom end. How to do this? Grip the bottom edge (the cut edge) of the spear in one hand; then grip the stalk, about 1 1/2 -2 inches (4-6 cm) away from the edge, with your other hand using your thumb and forefinger. Bend the part between your hands gently, but firmly: the stalk quickly 'snaps'. It usually snaps at the point where the stalk stops being woody and fibrous - often about 1- 1 1/2 inches away from the bottom edge.Note: This "snapping" method is not always completely reliable and can sometimes be somewhat wasteful. I like to check by trying to slice the snapped-off bottom ends, to see if I can salvage and collect a bit more of the tender stalk. Collect the tender stalks in a bunch and slice them about 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) , leaving the 'tip' of the spears intact (about 1 inch long) - they look really pretty and make a nice garnish!
- Place the prepared asparagusin a glass/ceramic microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, splash about 1 tsp water over the top, and microwave on Hi for 30-40 seconds. (Note: If microwave is not available, please see Recipe Notes for detailed stove-top cooking directions.)The asparagus turns bright green and it is tender-crisp - you do not want it to get overcooked and limp! Immediately transfer to a dinner plate and set aside, uncovered, to cool quickly. Set aside until ready to assemble and serve the salad.
- Rinse the green onions, shake off the excess water and slice them all the way to the roots.
- Rinse and slice the grape tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes) in half - lengthwise. Note: Select and use small-sized tomatoes in this salad. If you only have somewhat large grape tomatoes, cut each half across (NOT lengthwise!) to make half-moon pieces.Note: If grape/cherry tomatoes are not available, use regular tomatoes - select a ripe, but firm tomato - it should not become squishy when tossed with dressing. Cut it into medium-sized chunks, about the same size as halved grape tomatoes.
- Trim and rinse the Thai Basil. If stem is tender, you can use it; if the stem is tough and woody, strip the leaves and use only the leaves. Set aside until ready to add to the salad. Select a few pretty-looking sprig-tips for garnish (top 2-4 leaves). Hand-tear or coarsely chop the rest of the leaves to mix into the salad.
- Assemble all the salad ingredients in a large bowl or baking tray - I highly recommend using a glass bowl/tray: julienned watermelon rind, tomatoes, green onions, asparagus, hulled hemp seeds and black sesame seeds.Note: Please do NOT use aluminum bowls/trays for making and/or serving this salad. (The acidic dressing and the tomatoes react with aluminum - this is NOT good for your health)!)
- About 10 min before serving the salad, drizzle the prepared dressing over the salad. Then squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lime - about 2 tsp - all over the salad.
- Toss together gently, with salad tongs or 2 wide spoons, until the dressing is well distributed throughout. Serve over rinsed and towel-dried Romaine lettuce leaves. Romaine is crisp and gives the salad its own inimitable mild and juicy crunch.Note: If Romaine is not available, use any other lettuce that is available. Serve with any meal, any cuisine...
- Enjoy!
Notes
Home-made Fresh Red chilli paste:
If you'd like to make your own fresh red chilli paste, here's the link to the one I posted some time ago: https://theculinaryheart.com/easy-red-chilli-paste-make-it-with-fresh-chillies/No microwave?
No worries... Cook asparagus on the stove-top in shallow frying pan.- Heat a medium sized (8-10 inch /20-25 cm) frying pan on medium heat for 30 seconds.
- Add 1 tbsp water and a pinch of salt; stir to mix.
- Add the sliced asparagus (both stalks and tips) - spread in a single layer - do not crowd.
- Cook uncovered on Hi heat for about 1 minute: stir a few times to distribute heat evenly. The asparagus will become bright green and most of the water will have evaporated. Turn heat off.
- Immediately transfer the tender-crisp cooked asparagus to a dinner plate. Set aside - uncovered - to quickly cool to room temp. This will prevent the asparagus from becoming overcooked and limp.
- Set aside until ready to assemble and serve the salad.
Storing Leftovers
I recommend making just enough to NOT have leftovers! Like many salads, this salad too will lose its crisp texture after a few hours. However, if you do have some leftover salad, it is perfectly fine to have it with your next meal, although it will likely be somewhat limp and not quite as appealing as when freshly made. I would definitely recommend using fresh Romaine lettuce when serving leftover salad, though, for a bit of fresh crunch. To store leftover salad in the refrigerator, transfer to a glass/ceramic lidded container. I do NOT recommend using plastic, stainless steel or worse yet, aluminum containers for storing this salad.Nutrition
Calories: 80kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 4gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 296mgPotassium: 319mgFiber: 5gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 5491IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 65mgIron: 2mg
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