Looking for an easy and delicious summer party food to add to your repertoire? This salad is for you! While on vacation to see the solar eclipse my friend Kamala served this. It made a lasting impression as the effort to enjoyment ratio is ideal. There are only five ingredients, and it works great for snacking, dinner parties, and BBQs!
If you are someone who finds yourself with leftover watermelon, this is a perfect way to jazz it up.
Ingredients:
- Diced watermelon (med/small size, seedless)
- Crushed salted pistachios (½ cup)
- Crumbled feta cheese (6 oz. container)
- Chopped mint (about ⅓ cup)
- Mirin (½ cup)*
One of my favorite things about this salad is you can’t go wrong! EXCEPT if you add the mirin early and mix it with the feta. Don’t do that! It will look gross. Other than that, ratios of the ingredients can be played with.
You could get fancy and chiffonade the mint or make perfect Parisian scoop melon balls, but large diced melon and rough chopping is fine. It’s summer, it’s hot, no need to overexert yourself! If chopping up a big watermelon stresses you out, here is my favorite way to quickly prep a watermelon. I believe it’s not only faster, but also safer and easier than other methods.
Once your ingredients are ready, the way to make the dish….. depends on the occasion.
- Served immediately – individual plates: Layer the watermelon, pistachios, feta cheese, mint, and a dash of the mirin on a plate.
- Serve soon – prepped for a party: Go for the first four ingredients. Hold off on adding the mirin until right before serving.
- Choose your own adventure – “taco night” style: Place each of the five ingredients in separate containers. Set a note for assembly and remind folks to go lightly on the dressing. This is ideal for events where people are serving themselves at their leisure and for kids and other picky eaters so they can build a salad to their liking.
Since the eclipse, I have served this to many people with varying palates (foodies, family, picky eaters) and it has been a crowd-pleaser each time. The colorfulness alone puts a smile on people’s faces. It is simple, yet elegant. Most importantly, it tastes great! Thanks Kamala for sharing your dish with me!
Let me know how you like it!
*Mirin is a seasoning sauce made from rice wine. It’s available in most grocery store’s Asian cuisine section. It’s found in a lot of yummy Japanese dishes like teriyaki. If you can’t find it, use seasoned rice wine vinegar instead. Genius Kitchen has a simple recipe for seasoned rice wine vinegar.