Pickled melon with cream cheese and hot pepper sauce
6 servings
45 minutes
Recipe from Saperavi Café chef Irakli Dondua.
1
Prepare the marinade. Chop the shallot and ginger (30 g) randomly. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a deep pan or saucepan and sauté the onion and ginger until golden.
- Shallots: 100 g
- Fresh ginger: 60 g
- Olive oil: 30 ml
2
Pour wine vinegar into the pan and reduce the mixture by half.
- White wine vinegar: 40 ml
3
Add honey and saffron to the pan and bring to a boil.
- Honey: 70 g
- Saffron: pinch
4
Dissolve starch in 100 ml of water and pour it into the pan. Bring the marinade to a boil again. Remove the marinade from heat and let it cool slightly.
- Starch: 1 tablespoon
- Water: 100 ml
5
Peel the melon from the skin and seeds, pour warm marinade over it, and let it sit in the fridge while the sauce is being prepared.
- Melon: 1 kg
6
Prepare the sauce. Clean the lemongrass stalk from dried leaves and chop it. Mix with finely chopped garlic and ginger root.
- Lemongrass: 0.5 stem
- Fresh ginger: 60 g
- Red chili pepper: 2 pieces
7
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan or deep skillet, add ginger, lemongrass, and garlic. Sauté for 1 minute, stirring.
- Olive oil: 30 ml
8
Pour in wine (or rice) vinegar and reduce to half the volume.
- Rice vinegar: 120 ml
9
Add cane sugar, mix and let it dissolve. Immediately add 60 ml of water and stir in the starch dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water. Add finely chopped coriander roots and chili pepper (remove seeds).
- Cane sugar: 140 g
- Water: 100 ml
- Cornstarch: 1 teaspoon
- Coriander root: 1 piece
- Red chili pepper: 2 pieces
10
Bring the sauce to a boil, remove from heat, and let it cool.
11
Place pieces of pickled melon on a plate. Drizzle each piece with sauce. Next to the melon, carefully place spoonfuls of cream cheese in small mounds. Garnish with greens and serve.
- Cream cheese: 100 g
- Coriander leaves: to taste