Watermelon + cucumber salad with chili + charred shallot dressing

This restaurant is so on my bucket list!. I have cooked several recipes from this book, and they have always turned out exceptionally well.

This salad is one of my favourites. It has sweetness from watermelon, spice from chillies, and tartness from limes. They all come together beautifully.

The Fat Radish was a small neighbourhood restaurant in New York. The intimate, no-fuss, vegetarian-biased menu was highly rated, and it was always filled with young hipsters, along with the occasional superstar. This is another amazing recipe from this cookbook. I have been cooking through this book and am amazed at how delicious each recipe turns out. This book is among my favourites in my collection.

For more recipes from this cookbook, click here.

1 teaspoon olive oil 1 Arbol chilli (any Mexican grocery store, or in the Mexican chili section of a regular store) 2 shallots unpeeled 1/4 cup turbinado brown sugar 1/4 cup lime juice Salt to taste 1/2-1 small watermelon, cubed into bite-sized pieces, without skin 1 English cucumber, large, sliced into thin discs. Small handful of cilantro, finely diced Baby greens of any kind, I like sweet mixed lettuce for this recipe Place olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add chilli and fry for 1 minute, remove. Add the shallot with skin and cook on high until charred and burnt. Please don't be shy; let it burn. Add 1/2 cup water and boil for 5 minutes until the shallot is soft and cooked through. Cool the shallots and water. Peel the shallot and set aside. Strain the water and set aside.

Add the chilli, shallot, lime juice, salt and sugar in a small blender with a bit of the strained water used to boil the shallots. Blend into a thick liquid. Taste and adjust the seasonings; it should be sweet, sour, and spicy. On a bed of lettuce, arrange the watermelon and cucumbers in a decorative manner. Sprinkle the cilantro on top. Drizzle the dressing on top, just a bit. Serve with the dressing on the side for folks to add more as desired. Sprinkle with large-grain salt. Enjoy.