Thai Melon Salad by Ric Orlando

Thai Melon Salad

Here is Summer Favorite of mine..
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This is super refreshing, clean and surprising.

Bring it to a pot luck BBQ. Its great with smokey grilled foods or its also delish spooned on top of a bowl of steaming hot rice.

Yet another great way to use up any leftover melon.
 Use whatever melon you have for this.

Makes about a 6 cups.

Want it Vegan?use tamari instead of fish sauce....

This calls for three melons for color and texture, but of you only have one or two kinds, go for it

1 cup  watermelon – large dice, seeded

1 cup honeydew, large dice

1 cup cantelope, large dice

1 medium cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthwise,  and sliced thin

1  red onion, peeled quartered lengthwise,  sliced thin 

1 big  not so ripe tomato, quartered and sliced

I medium carrot, peeled, sliced lengthwise then sliced into very thin half moons.

1 small fresh chile like a serrano or half a jalapeno, thinly sliced*

 small bunch of mint, chopped

handful of basil, or Thai basil, roughly chopped
1 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

pinch  salt

pinch  pepper
Put in a large bowl.

DRESSING

1/4           cup  cider vinegar

1/4           cup  sugar
1/4 cup warm tap water

1/4           cup  fish sauce ( you can sub tamari sauce to make it vegan)

Whisk the warm water and sugar together to dissolve. Whisk in all other ingredients, and pur over the salad. Toss gently to combine and serve chilled.
*Note on using chile peppers in cold salads. Your first instinct may be to dice them upo very small, but here is the rub--then they will infiltrate EVERYTHING. If you slice them so they are obvious, your guest can either enjoy them as a spicy crunch ( he melon will cool you right down) or avoid them.