Thai Watermelon Salad

This is my take on a Thai Watermelon Salad. A few keys to success - don’t skip the step of salting and draining the tomatoes. Tomatoes and watermelon have a high water content and when combined with the salty dressing, they will release a lot of water and the flavor will be diluted. This is also why you should only dress this salad right before serving. If you combine all the ingredients aside from dressing ahead of time, make sure you drain off any excess water that has accumulated at the bottom of the bowl before dressing. If you don’t have a melon baller, feel free to dice the watermelon.

Thai Watermelon Salad

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1/2 mini seedless watermelon

Leaves from four basil stems, chiffonade

Kosher salt

3 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsb toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice

1 tsp brown sugar

Cut tomatoes in half, place in a colander and sprinkle with salt, let drain at least 10 minutes. Ball the watermelon. In a jam jar, combine fish sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and brown sugar. Shake to combine. Alternatively, place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Combine watermelon, tomatoes, basil and dressing. Serve immediately.