Thai watermelon and prawn starter

Being back at home in Durban is great. The weather is warm, family is close and the fridge is full!

For lunch yesterday, we made a delicious light summer salad that everyone raved about. We first tasted it at a restaurant called Umami at the Dunkirk Estate about 2 years ago before it closed down. We fell in love with this salad and decided to make our own version.

Ingredients:

3 big prawns per serving

1 watermelon

1 cucumber

1 medium red onion

4 cloves garlic

2 red chilli, de-seed and chopped

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

Coriander root, washed

2 stalks lemongrass, grate the white part only

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup fish sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

Method:

1. Cook the prawns in a frying pan with a little oil, with the shell still on. Allow to cool, then peel off the shell.

2. Slice the watermelon into medium-sized squares per serving.

3. Grate the cucumber using a zester into fine long threads.

4. In a blender mix red onion, garlic, chilli, green pepper, red pepper, coriander root, lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. If necessary add a little water.

5. Stack the prawns on top of the watermelon pieces. Top with cucumber threads and drizzle the sauce generously.

Enjoy as a tasty starter salad to get the taste buds rolling!

Happy food. Happy photos. Happy life.