This dish delivers on multiple fronts: salt and spice from the peppered chicken and sweet and sharp from the pickled watermelon. Store any excess pickle in a sterilised jar in the fridge for up to two weeks, and use to spoon on salads or grilled meat.
Put 800g diced watermelon, 1 sliced jalapeño and 170g caster sugar in a large, sterilised jar, give it a gentle shake to coat, then leave to macerate for 20 minutes. Add 125ml vinegar, 2 camomile tea bags, 2 tbsp mint leaves, a teaspoon of salt and 175ml water and cover with a piece of greaseproof paper. Seal the jar and refrigerate overnight.
Now for the chicken. Combine 2 tsp mixed ground peppercorns in a medium bowl, and set aside a quarter-teaspoon of the mix. Add 2 tbsp flour and a half-teaspoon of salt to the remaining ground peppercorns.
Put 1 tbsp oil in a medium frying pan on a high heat. Sandwich 3 boneless and skinless chicken thighs between two sheets of greaseproof paper and use a rolling pin to bash it out to ½cm thick.
Coat the chicken in the pepper-flour mixture, then lay them one by one in the hot pan and fry for three minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken to a board, sprinkle an eighth of a teaspoon of salt over them all, and leave to rest.
Drain the pickle solids and set aside. Return the frying pan to a medium-high heat and add 200ml of the watermelon pickling liquid; Cook down the pickling liquid for five minutes, until it turns orange and syrupy and has reduced by four-fifths, then take off the heat.
Meanwhile, mix very thin rings of banana shallot, 45g watercress and the drained watermelon pickle, then transfer to a large plate with a lip. Cut each chicken thigh at an angle into three or four slices and arrange on top.
Spoon over the reduced syrup, sprinkle on the reserved quarter-teaspoon of ground peppercorns and serve with lime halves for squeezing over
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