Pickled melon with cream cheese and hot pepper sauce

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.

Pour wine vinegar into the pan and reduce the mixture by half.

Add honey and saffron to the pan and bring to a boil.

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.

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.

Prepare the sauce. Clean the lemongrass stalk from dried leaves and chop it. Mix with finely chopped garlic and ginger root.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan or deep skillet, add ginger, lemongrass, and garlic. Sauté for 1 minute, stirring.

Pour in wine (or rice) vinegar and reduce to half the volume.

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).

Bring the sauce to a boil, remove from heat, and let it cool.

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.