Watermelon, hot smoked salmon & rice noodle salad

Elly Curshen's salad is perfect to make on days when you’re too hot to cook, or simply can’t be bothered. It doesn’t take long to put together and looks fancy enough for entertaining.

Ingreadient

• ¼ x 180g pack (1 block) rice noodles
• ½ x 25g coriander
• 600g wedge watermelon, flesh cubed to give 350g
• ⅓ Essential Cucumber, cut into angled 0.5cm half-moon slices
• 1 small echalion shallot, finely sliced
• 160g hot smoked salmon fillets with sweet chilli
• 2 tbsp Essential Roasted Salted Peanuts, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Cooks’ Ingredients crispy fried onions
• ¼ x 20g pack Thai basil, leaves
• 1 lime, juice
• 2 tsp Japanese rice vinegar
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 2 cm piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 1 tsp light brown soft sugar
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Step by step

1. Put the noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 3 minutes, then drain in a sieve and run cold water over them until fully cold. Gently squeeze as much water out as possible.
2. Wipe the mixing bowl dry, add the dressing ingredients and whisk together. Finely chop the coriander stalks and add to the dressing. Tip the noodles back in and toss well.
3. Add the watermelon, cucumber and shallot (separating the shallot rings as you add it). Using clean hands, toss everything together. At this point you can store it in a lidded container in the fridge until ready to eat (up to 3 hours).
4. When ready to serve, roughly chop the coriander leaves and add to the salad. Transfer to a serving platter or individual plates. Remove and discard any skin from the salmon. Break the fish into bitesized pieces and arrange on top of the salad. Sprinkle over the peanuts, crispy fried onions and Thai basil and serve.