Food Writer
Food Writer
Uyen Luu is a food photographer and author of three cookbooks. She also runs a supper club in East London.
June 7, 2023
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Before the Italians changed their currency to euros, I had a wallet stuffed with hefty lira notes and it was all for a small greengrocer at the bottom of a small gorgeous mountain village somewhere by the seashore in Liguria, northern Italy. Its walls were unplastered, the green glass door would hit a chime and one bare light bulb hung from its ceiling over a beautiful display of the sweetest furry summer peaches, shapely nectarines, furrowed lemons, plump crimson cherries, and an array of yellow, pale and green courgettes (zucchini), some flowering, wonky and spiky. The perfume of the freshest fruit picked only the day before was exquisite.
Choose your melon and mango by their aroma: the stronger the smell, the sweeter the fruit. Balance this sweetness in the dressing that you make; use less honey if the fruits are sweet but more if they are sour. And for more recipes like this, check out my cookbook, Vietnamese Vegetarian.
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Ingredients
Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
For the passion fruit, lemon and honey dressing:
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce or Yondu vegetable umami sauce
- pulp and juice of 1 passion fruit
- ½ tablespoon honey
- 1 bird’s eye chili, finely sliced
- juice of ½ lemon or lime, reserve the zest
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For the salad:
- 1 courgette (zucchini), thinly sliced lengthways
- ½ melon, peeled and sliced into half-moons
- 1 unripe mango, sliced into thin half-moons
- zest of ½ lemon or lime
- 2 mint sprigs, de-stalked and sliced
- ⅓ pink pomelo or seeds of ⅓ of a pomegranate
Preparation:
- Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
- Place the courgette slices in a hot griddle pan turning once until there are satisfying char marks on both sides. Set aside to cool.
- Scatter the melon, mango, and courgette on a platter. Toss together. Drizzle the dressing all over the top and garnish with the lemon zest, mint, and pink pomelo or pomegranate seeds.
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NOTE: If you cannot get hold of pink pomelo, use pink grapefruit or grapefruit. This salad also works well with apple, pear, and nectarine slices.
Excerpted with permission from Vietnamese Vegetarian by Uyen Luu published by Hardie Grant Publishing, May 2023, RRP $35 hardcover.
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