Tomato, Cantaloupe and Cucumber Salad with Mint and Nước Chấm

This salad is best during the height of summer, when tomatoes are ripe and flavorful and cantaloupes are sweet and expressive. Persian cucumbers add irresistible crunch. It was inspired by a salad served at Loro, a Dallas, Texas smokehouse (whose flagship is in Austin); the creation of its Nước Chấm Vinaigrette got an assist from cookbook author Andrea Nguyen.

We like to keep a jar of the Nước Chấm Vinaigrette in the fridge so this — or a salad riffing on it — can be tossed together in a flash. How to riff on it? We’ve left out the cantaloupe, upped the tomatoes, cukes and avocado and swapped cilantro for mint (delicious!). You could try adding shredded or shaved daikon in place of the cukes, tossing in some cooked shrimp or crabmeat, leaving out the avocado, adding sliced scallions, or swapping watermelon for the cantaloupe.

Cut the recipe in half for an easy solo lunch, or double it for a dinner or brunch for four.

Serves 2.

Ingredients

2 Persian cucumbers

1 large or two smallish heirloom tomatoes, about 10 ounces / 88 grams

1/4 of a smallish ripe cantaloupe

Half an avocado

10 or 12 fresh mint leaves, torn

3 to 4 tablespoons Nước Chấm Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Instructions

1. Trim the ends off the cucumber, lay it on a cutting board and with a wide-bladed knife or cleaver on top of it, and smash the cuke till it splits. Repeat with the second cucumber. Cut them into bite-sized chunks and put them in a salad bowl.

2. Cut tomato, cantaloupe and into bite-size chunks and put them in a bowl with cucumbers. Add the mint and toss with 3 tablespoons of the Nước Chấm Vinaigrette. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more vinaigrette if necessary.

Nước Chấm Vinaigrette

Makes about 2/3 cup / 140 ml dressing.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from about 4 or 5 juicy limes)

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons water

1 clove garlic, minced

1 or 2 Thai chiles (or more or less to taste), sliced thin

2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola

Instructions

Put the lime juice in a jar with the sugar, fish sauce and water; cover and shake until the sugar is dissolved. Add the garlic, half a Thai chile and oil, and shake again. Taste and adjust to your own taste, adding more chile if you like it hotter.

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