This summer Asian peach salad hits all the right notes. It looks like a fruit salad at first glance. When you delve in deeper, there’s a nice mixture of summer flavors and textures. Cool and crisp cucumber, tropical sweet mango, refreshing, juicy watermelon and of course, sweet, delicious peaches. Fragrant herbs and a tart and pungent fish sauce-lime dressing adds nice contrasting flavors. The chopped peanuts bring a nice crunch and saltiness. Chilies are there for as much heat as you can handle. If you’re chili heat sensitive, just leave them out.
What does this summer peach salad remind me of?
If you’re familiar with Thai food, this may seem like a distant riff on green papaya salad. There are versions of this salad in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Green papaya salad is usually made with salted crab or dried shrimp pounded in a mortar and pestle, along with tomatoes, Chinese long beans, shredded green papaya, chilies, palm sugar and fish sauce.
This is a much more accessible and easily sourced salad. It’s also best this time of year when summer fruit and vegetables are at their peak. When you have great ingredients, you don’t need much effort to make them sing. All you need here is some patience with a knife or a mandoline with a julienne blade. Then you just whisk up a simple dressing, pick some fresh herbs and you’re set!
I’ve been making this salad non-stop lately. It goes great with grilled meats and simply cooked fish. My favorite grilled pork chop at the moment is made with a lemongrass and garlic marinade and this salad is amazing with it. When I have leftovers, I like to pan cook a filet of fish such as halibut or salmon with very simple seasonings. This Asian peach salad really makes simple food feel so much more special.
One tip for making this salad.
I’ve tried making this salad with ripe peaches and then again with not quite ripe peaches. Since there’s a good amount of sweetness with the mango and watermelon, I tried using underripe peaches just to see if it would work like a green papaya. To my surprise, I quite liked it! The peaches were maybe two days away from being ripe and had some crunch and tartness to them. They worked so well with the other ingredients. I preferred this salad with underripe peaches. Try it both ways and see which suits you best.
This recipe makes quite a few servings. I would suggest only dressing the amount you need. Once dressed, the salad will start to give off juices and become limp over time. Undressed leftover salad and dressing will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. I would also recommend this salad as a lettuce cup filler topped with sliced grilled meat or shrimp or tofu and avocado slices, if you want to go meatless. Mmm, doesn’t that sound delicious?
Final thoughts on The Peach Truck Cookbook.
I’ve made several recipes from this cookbook now. It’s jam packed with a lot of fun, delicious and interesting recipes. The stories behind the company and founders give great insight into all the hard work it takes to grow and sell one single fruit! I appreciate the attention to detail of the well-written collection of recipes and beautiful food photography. In conclusion, I will be trying more recipes from this book and highly recommend it. I can’t wait to try the peach hand-pies with the peaches I have stashed in my freezer this winter!
Summer Asian Peach Salad
Ingredients
for the Dressing
- 1/4 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 small fresh chili (any variety such as fresno, serrano, thai bird, etc), thinly sliced (optional)
for the Salad
- 2 cups (345 g) watermelon, cut in large matchsticks
- 2 ¼ cups (285 g) peaches, cut in large matchsticks (2 medium peaches)
- 2 cups (220 g) cucumber, cut in large matchsticks
- 1 ¼ cups (200 g) mango, cut in large matchsticks
- ½ cup mint leaves
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves (optional)
- ¼ cup thai basil (or regular basil) leaves
- ½ cup salted, roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
Method
- In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dressing. Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine all the fruit, cucumber, fresh herbs and most of the peanuts (reserve a little for garnish). Pour over the dressing and gently toss to combine. Spoon onto a serving platter or bowl. Garnish with the reserved peanuts. Serve immediately.
Notes
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Hey! I can’t wait to try this recipe. My family loves thai food. We have a local thai place that we frequent often. The chili peppers add a nice spice. I do like a little kick sometimes. I also one time had a stash of peaches in my freezer. My sister in law and I went a little crazy peach picking one year. 🙂
I do like adding chilies with sweet fruit. It’s unexpected and really good if you like spicy things! I have a peach stash in my freezer right now from The Peach Truck, which I did a video about. Hope you’re having a great summer and thanks for watching!