Sweet & Savory Watermelon “Chili”

The recipe I did for the FoodTokTV Picnic Live last night.

For the history of this recipe visit https://bitetheroad.com/cold-watermelon-chili/ my older personal food blog, but it seemed like a perfect recipe for the Foodtoktv Picnic Series 2022, since I was going to make it that weekend for my family.

It came about from a favorite salad of watermelon & feta I discovered years ago here in San Francisco. What I realized as I worked on my version, was to appeal ,in a subtle manner, to both sweet and savory tastes; so that when you finish the meal, you finish on the sweet side and a minute later you get a bit of heat, making you crave more.

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Sweet & Savory Watermelon “Chili”

Ingredients

• 8 cups seeded and cubed watermelon*

• An additional 6-10 cups of cubed watermelon (keep this  separate as you will add this after the base has cooled)

• 2 teaspoons fresh basil chopped 

• 1/2 cup mild onion chopped finely

• 2 cloves of garlic crushed

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

• 2 tablespoons water

• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

• ½ -1 teaspoon of ground of red pepper flakes (optional)

• 2 -4 teaspoons of local honey

• 1 teaspoon (and to taste) citrus flavored oil  (Optional)

*one pound of watermelon is equal to approximately 1.5 cups of cubed watermelon, so a 10-15 lb watermelon will be a good average for the recipe

For the “chili like” toppings for your guests

• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese, or similar salty cheese
  ½ cup small diced scallions or chives
  1 cup of roasted sunflower seeds, pepito’s or pumpkin seeds or pistachios

• Chili flakes, 

• Fresh herbs like Cilantro, Basil etc

• Candied ginger or citrus

*** The version that I make is for a large batch but this halves easily.

I suggest if you are buying the watermelon off-season you may have to add either coconut or regular sugar or you can increase the honey or honey/sugar substitute.

To Make:

1. In a large saucepan,  on medium heat, add a teaspoon of the citrus infused oil, all of the garlic, onion, and ginger. 

2. Add the red pepper flakes.

3. Slowly stir until the onions become translucent the garlic gives off a rich aroma. Note: You want to stop before any of ginger, onion or garlic browns. The idea is cook them till soft and flavorful but not overcooked or roasted.

4. This will generally take 3 to 5 minutes depending on the type of pan, the temperature you using and the quantity. Keep in mind – all of my amounts are approximate and in my opinion subjected to personal taste. 

5. While the onion and garlic mixture slowly cooks, you want to use the first 8 cups of watermelon and in small batches using your food processor, blend it to a thick purée. Don’t over blend it. 

   Note: Reserve a least 1/2 cup of the watermelon, from the first set of 8 cups since I found that after I puréed it all and cooked it some, I still wanted a little bit of texture in the initial warm soup. So holding back about half a cup and then adding to the pan as it cooks allows for it break down naturally.

6. Add the 2 tablespoons of water,  the honey and the puréed watermelon into the hot onion, garlic and ginger mixture, stir gently.

7. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the soup up to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to medium.

8. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until it becomes slightly thickened. At this point add the remaining ½ cup of reserved watermelon cubes (you should still have 8 cups already cubed but that’s for part 2) and cook for another minute.

9. Now Taste it – do you want more garlic, honey or ginger ? This when it is good to add it. Since it will be served cold – the flavor will be muted when cold, so you need to keep that in mind when it’s heating.

10. Once the cubes are warm, remove the pan from the heat and pour into a covered container. Let it cool on the counter, then cover and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

About herbs; I think you could go either way; add some while heating – but then I suggest you use dried as fresh may go black from the heat. Otherwise its best to add it to the cold bowl of soup prior to serving.

Part 2: On the day I serve the chili, I remove it from the refrigerator and let it sit out about 30 – 40 minutes. 

1. Add the fresh chopped herbs, more of the of red pepper flakes (optional) to taste, check for salt-and-pepper or even more honey.

2. Pour in 7 of the reserved cups of the cubed watermelon, gently stir several times and check for consistency. Since I wanted this to resemble a chill, I want some thickness with a bit of chunkiness. At this point I could either on hand mash the remaining watermelon to give me a little more thickness or I could purée it to give me more thinness. It is totally to taste.

3. Stir and check for ground pepper and salt and you’re ready to serve.

To serve: 

To a chilled bowl or mason jar, ladle in the chili.

Garnish with a ring of the citrus oil and herbs. 

Serve it alongside small dishes that filled with the feta, the diced scallion, roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds etc. I also had a small dish of hot pepper flakes as well as more of the citrus oil and encourage people garnish at will.

Note: At first people were somewhat dubious and I think are a little scared, but once they started, and played with different combinations – they all dug in for more than one bowl each. Something about the cool feeling of the sweet watermelon and the under bite of the ginger and red peppers flakes drives you back for more.

Other variations I could see working would be if you added peeled and cubed cucumber, apple or pears.