Watermelon Salad with Pickled Red Onions, Marinated Feta and Cucumber

Words: Crush

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There’s nothing quite like juicy watermelon at this time of year to refresh the palate and get the tastebuds going. This fresh, vibrant salad has such beautiful colour and will make a stunning centrepiece dish on any summer table.

Serves: 4
Difficulty: easy
Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes (including pickling and marinating time)
Cooking time: 5 minutes

Pickled Red Onions
⅔ C (160 ml) red wine vinegar
2 tsp (10 ml) brown sugar
2 tsp (10 ml) wholegrain mustard
1 tsp (5 ml) garlic, finely chopped
1 large red onion

Marinated Feta
2 (140 g) rounds of feta, cubed
1 Tbsp (15 ml) sweet chilli sauce
2 tsp (10 ml) chives, finely chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) olive oil
1 tsp (5 ml) lemon juice
pinch of salt and pepper

Salad
40 g rocket
½ cucumber, spiralized
¼ watermelon
handful of basil leaves
1 avocado, diced
100 g roasted cashews
handful of onion sprouts

Pickled Red Onions
Heat the red wine vinegar, brown sugar, wholegrain mustard and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the mixture comes to the boil, cook for 1 minute. Cut the onion into paper-thin rounds and place into a jar. Pour the warm vinegar mixture over the sliced onions and leave to pickle for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Marinated Feta
Toss all the ingredients together, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Salad
Place the rocket and spiralized cucumber into a salad bowl. Use a melon baller to scoop out about 500 g of watermelon and scatter the balls on top. Add the feta and some of the pickled onions.

Scatter the basil, avocado, cashews and onion sprouts over the top of the salad and serve. Additional pickled onions can be served on the side.

TIP: If you don’t have a spiralizer to prepare the cucumbers, then use a vegetable peeler to make cucumber ribbons instead, or just slice into thin rounds.

Recipe by Illanique van Aswegen