My late mother had the extraordinary gift of always picking the perfect melon. I did not inherit this gift and run a 50-50 chance at all times of hitting a home run or striking out. Weeks in the summer when melons are so abundant that the CSA pleads with you to take two are when I wish I had my mom’s gift. Over time I’ve developed recipes that enhance my local melons when I don’t get a great one. When the melons are ripe, these salads are amazing. When I goof, and the melon is not quite there, these salads come in really handy.
I give the cubed melon a tender toss with the traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce nuoc cham. This traditional sauce appears on the table at most Vietnamese meals. Add a small handful of shredded carrots, and you have a vegetable relish. For the ultimate nuoc cham, grind garlic, chile, and sugar with a mortar and pestle. Or smash the garlic through a garlic press, or mince it finely and mash it with the sugar and chiles on the inside of a bowl with the back of your spoon. Or simply stir it all together. As long as you dissolve the sugar, you will have a delicious sauce. A sprinkling of peanuts and fresh mint is the perfect finish for this refreshing salad, which works well as a side to a plain piece of fish.
SOME TIPS:
Use a large, serrated knife for melon prep.
Before cutting open the melon, fill a medium-sized bowl with cold water and plop the herbs in for a handsoff soak. You’ll be amazed at how much will fall to the bottom when you gently remove them after prepping your melon.
Vietnamese Honeydew Salad
Ingredients
FOR THE NUOC CHAM
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon chile-garlic sauce, finely chopped fresh hot chiles, or 1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
FOR THE SALAD
- ½ honeydew melon, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint cut into a chiffonade
- ¼ cup nuoc cham dressing
Instructions
TO MAKE THE NUOC CHAM
- If you have a mortar and pestle, combine garlic, sugar, and chile-garlic sauce and mash into a paste. If not, mince the ingredients together on your cutting board, and mash to a coarse paste with a fork and the back of a spoon.
- Scrape the paste into a small bowl, and stir in fish sauce, water, and lime juice. Stir well to dissolve sugar. You will have leftover dressing; refrigerate in a glass jar for up to 1 week.
TO MAKE THE SALAD
- Combine all ingredients except the dressing in the bowl. Stir to combine. Pour about half the liquid into the salad and stir. Let sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. Finish with chopped peanuts and fresh mint if desired.
