Mexican watermelon salad

I was looking for a fresh Summer salad to serve for our Mexican fiesta and came across this watermelon salad from the Mexican book I purchased in the States last year.  Everyone loved it, a great combination of flavours and balanced out the heat in the Pulled pork and texture of the Mexican Forbidden red rice.

Things are improving on the Mexican ingredient scene in Sydney but we are still not quite there yet…  This recipe called for fresh tomatillos which I couldn’t find so I substituted heirloom tomatoes, but it is not the same.  I did see bottled tomatillos from the Mission brand but that’s not the same either.  I can also buy them tinned from Fireworks who seem to have the best selection of ingredients in Sydney.  Great for other recipes, but not a salad.

I have altered the ingredients to try to achieve a different combination of flavours and textures.  This is an unusual but refreshing salad – try it, you will be surprised 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 8

3 cups seedless watermelon
1 large avocado, diced into 1cm pieces
2 tomatillos if available husked and thinly sliced or heirloom tomatoes of your choice, sliced.  I used most of a large, mixed punnet.
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
½ cup crumbled queso fresco cheese (substitute Fetta)
handful of coriander leaves
handful of mint leaves
2 tbsp. chopped chives

Dressing:
¼ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh or 1tsp pickled jalapeno chilli or to taste (see note below)
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground coriander

Method:

1. Cut watermelon into wedges and place into your serving dish or onto individual plates.
2. In a large bowl combine all the other salad ingredients except the cheese.
3. Place all the ingredients for the dressing into a screw-top jar and shake well.  Taste.  The fresh jalapeno chillies I purchased didn’t have any heat which I thought was strange. The pickled ones DO have lots of heat so be aware.
4. Just before serving, toss dressing through salad, place on the top of the watermelon and crumble over the cheese.

Serve immediately as part of a shared meal.