Cucumber-Watermelon Salad

I riffed on this idea, added mint for color and flavor, substituted honey for hoisin, and sprinkled with feta. Yum.

Really like this salad. The only change I made was to use cilantro rather than parsley. A nice complement to the lime.

Very tasty, people always like it. If you're serving it at a party where it will sit on a buffet table for a while, either dress the salad in small batches and replenish it frequently, or serve it inside a bowl with its own strainer. The watermelon and cukes give up so much liquid that the salad becomes soupy and unappealing if it sits out for more than about half an hour.

Didn't have hoisin sauce, didn't have jalapenos, didn't have limes, had the parsley and the pistachios, and the other ingredients, so I decided to wing it.
Since hoisin sauce is somewhat sweet I used a lesser amount of sweet chilli sauce, and some soy sauce. That took care of the hoisin sauce. And since that same sweet chilli sauce is also hot, it substituted for the jalapenos, with a boost from some chipotle powder. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

I love the comments with the NYT cooking app. This salad is so strange and delicious. I might have passed it by but the comments gave me confidence. I served mine with leftover pasta frittata by Mark Bittman. (Another odd one that just works somehow.)

Some diced jicama adds a second crunchy note!

Surprising flavours that really work well together! My guests were very pleased. Make sure to let the melon and cucumber rest for a while in the colander or else your salad will end up as a gaspacho (still tasty but less appealing)...

Wonderfully different fruit/vegetable salad; I must confess I used over-the-hill cucumbers and it was perfect. The dark hoisin dressing rather disguised the imperfections. Served it before Flo Fabricant's Chicken Tagine with Peppers and Chickpeas. Delightful combination.

Easy to make and refreshing. It improved with age and was still delicious the following day.

I used slightly underripe mango instead of watermelon and the salad was still a hit. The hoisin really makes it and don't be afraid to add salt. Almonds work if you don't have pistachios.

I substituted cilantro for the parsley, brazil nuts for the pistachios, and upped the lime juice a touch (to 4 tablespoons) and liked the result a bit better than the original. The brazil nuts stand up to the juices better (particularly in the second day) and are a bit less cloying. The cilantro is a major improvement; with parsley it tasted a bit odd, the cilantro rounded out the hoisin and lime juice flavors very nicely.

I thought the salad was tasty when it was just made but after an hour in the fridge the salt had put some bad mojo on the ingredients and it became watery and the cucumbers a bit slimy. Wouldn't make it again unless I was serving it immediately.

Hmm... Something went wrong there, not sure what.

With 7 cups of vegetables and fruit, plus a fair quantity of chopped parlsey and lime juice, it's hard to see how 3 Tablespoons of hoisin staged a mutiny.

Had it last night, w/o pistachios and no substitute due to nut allergy. Very nice balance of flavors. Soaked up leftover sauce up with bread. Delicious sweet, sour earthy, vegital.

A real keeper here.

Second time around I had no jalapeño or hoisin sauce on hand, so I skipped the jalapeño and used a bit of dashi instead. The dashi really cut into the melon's sweetness and made a good savory salad to accompany German meatloaf and roasted cherry tomatoes.

I'm coming to dinner. Just name the date, Lauren.