Watermelon Rind Stir-Fry

I'd just like to add that it is IMPERATIVE that you REMOVE the dark green shell of the water melon. You JUST want to cook the white cruncy part that sort of tastes like a cucumber. I'm chinese and my family has been cooking this as a home dish since I can remember, it is my FAVORITE thing. We dont cook it with chicken, just straight up, but the secret trick is to add a spoonful of chili-garlic sauce. Its the red stuff with the green cap and the white chicken on it. (Same company that makes Siracha Sauce) You can find a container of this sauce at your local Asian grocery store for like $3.50.

I tried this recipe because it was so unusual. I am very glad I did. It was great but I had to make some changes 'cause of things on hand. I used canola oil instead of peanut oil & soy sauce instead of teriyaki sauce & it still was fantastic. Will try it next time with chicken strips stir fried first and served over rice. Hubby liked it also. Will help on the grocery bill also cause the rinds were always thrown out unless I was making watermelon pickles. Thanks for sharing.

I've been putting my watermelon rind in the compost so far this summer, but not anymore! I'm giving this recipe 5 stars for innovation and 4 stars for taste. My watermelon was a perfect texture (the submitter was spot-on when comparing it to zucchini), but still just a tad bitter. I added a little brown sugar at the very end, stirred in some roasted chicken pieces and served over white rice. It was an excellent - and very different - recipe, and I'm glad I tried it! The only thing I will do differently next time will be to simmer the rind a little longer to pull the last bit of the bitterness out. Oh, and make sure you use a high quality teriyaki sauce as it is the overwhelming flavor for the dish.

I give it 3 stars just for the creativity. However when it comes right down to it, the watermelon really isn't bringing a lot of flavor to the dish, and it honestly seemed like a vector for Teriyaki sauce. (If after reading this review, you do decided to make it, I recommend removing the outer 4mm of rind, otherwise it takes too long to cook and has a fibrous texture--much like ‘woody’ part of an asparagus stalk). Granted I didn’t follow the recipe exactly—I added ½ cup Teriyaki instead of ¼ cup (big mistake-keep it to ¼ cup otherwise all you can taste is Teriyaki and it comes out too salty). I also added a tsp of creamy peanut butter to vegetable oil (I wasn’t about to buy a whole thing of peanut oil just for one recipe.) It sounds good in principle, but it just didn’t turn out for me, maybe that extra ¼ of Teriyaki killed it for me. I served it over rice and that seemed to work well. Happy cooking!

Just as Anna Wang said...Do NOT eat the green rind part...ONLY the fleshy WHITE part of the watermelon rind! :) Great recipe tho!

I used olive oil and beef broth because that is what I had. We found it too salty. Next time I won't add the salt and see how that goes. I think I will definitely add chicken for a main stir fry dish. Do love using stuff I was composting!