Watermelon, hot smoked salmon & rice noodle salad

Name: Watermelon, hot smoked salmon & rice noodle salad
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 180 g pack (1 block) rice noodles; 25 g coriander; 600 g wedge watermelon, flesh cubed to give 350g; ⅓ Essential Cucumber, cut into angled 0.5cm half-moon slices; 1 small echalion shallot, finely sliced; 160 g hot smoked salmon fillets with sweet chilli; 2 tbsp Essential Roasted Salted Peanuts, finely chopped; 2 tbsp Cooks’ Ingredients crispy fried onions; 20 g pack Thai basil, leaves

Elly Curshen's salad is perfect to make on days when you’re too hot to cook, or simply can’t be bothered. It doesn’t take long to put together and looks fancy enough for entertaining.

5 out of 5 stars(3) Rate this recipe

Serves2
CourseLunch
Prepare15 mins
Cook-
Total time15 mins

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Ingredients

¼ x 180g pack (1 block) rice noodles
½ x 25g coriander
600g wedge watermelon, flesh cubed to give 350g
⅓ Essential Cucumber, cut into angled 0.5cm half-moon slices
1 small echalion shallot, finely sliced
160g hot smoked salmon fillets with sweet chilli
2 tbsp Essential Roasted Salted Peanuts, finely chopped
2 tbsp Cooks’ Ingredients crispy fried onions
¼ x 20g pack Thai basil, leaves

For the dressing

1 lime, juice
2 tsp Japanese rice vinegar
2 tsp fish sauce
2 cm piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp light brown soft sugar
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Method

Put the noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 3 minutes, then drain in a sieve and run cold water over them until fully cold. Gently squeeze as much water out as possible.
Wipe the mixing bowl dry, add the dressing ingredients and whisk together. Finely chop the coriander stalks and add to the dressing. Tip the noodles back in and toss well.
Add the watermelon, cucumber and shallot (separating the shallot rings as you add it). Using clean hands, toss everything together. At this point you can store it in a lidded container in the fridge until ready to eat (up to 3 hours).
When ready to serve, roughly chop the coriander leaves and add to the salad. Transfer to a serving platter or individual plates. Remove and discard any skin from the salmon. Break the fish into bitesized pieces and arrange on top of the salad. Sprinkle over the peanuts, crispy fried onions and Thai basil and serve.

Cook’s tip

Try watermelon in place of (or in addition to) tomato in a panzanella salad. Or, look up Angela Harnett’s watermelon, roasted pepper & mozzarella salad in the recipes search bar.

Watermelon sprinkled with lime juice and a little Tajin-style seasoning (a blend of dried chilli powders and salt, now available in the Cooks’ Ingredients range) is a fantastic snack. The spice makes the fruit’s natural sweetness really pop.

Make a refreshing watermelon and strawberry juice by blending a handful of each fruit with a little lemon or lime juice, then cover with coconut water, add ice and blend.