Melon, Cucumber & Tomato Salad with Nước Chấm

Recipe adapted from Justine Doiron

This recipe is particularly good with a firmer, crunchier melon like a canary, honeydew, piel de sapo, or snow leopard, but any melon will do!

2 tbsp fish sauce (vegans/vegetarians: substitute soy sauce or tamari, or there are vegetarian fish sauce options out there)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 small birds eye chilies seeds removed and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1" knob fresh ginger minced
1 lime
1 cup cilantro finely chopped
1/2 of a medium melon
6 small to medium tomatoes of assorted colors
1 small painted serpent cucumber or half a larger cucumber
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds for topping
1 tbsp chili oil for topping

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and juice from the lime. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
Add in the cilantro, chilies, garlic and ginger and whisk again. Add more rice vinegar if the sauce needs to thin out a bit more. Set this aside, it gets better as the ingredients meld together.
Deseed and thinly slice the melon. Quarter the tomatoes and very thinly slice the cucumber. You want the cucumbers so thin you can almost see through them. Toss everything in the bowl with the dressing.
To plate, scatter everything on a large plate in a thin layer! Sprinkle with sesame seeds and dot with chili oil.