This mouthwatering Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad with Tahini and Lemon Dressing is sure to lure you in for seconds or maybe even thirds!
This stunning eye-popping salad with prawns, halloumi and watermelon is perfect for Christmas lunch or dinner. I mean just look at it, it has beautiful Christmas colours all over it!
This Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad is a great conversation starter. I’m talking from experience so inquisitive minds will likely ask, ‘Is it sweet or savoury?’, ‘How did you come up with this?’ and ‘How do we eat it?’.
All good questions but for now, let’s focus on how incredibly gorgeous and flavourful this Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad is!
At first glance you may assume the ingredients in this salad will clash with each other. I can assure you it doesn’t because everything works so well together!
This Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad with Middle Eastern-inspired dressing is so AMAZING! Get ready to blow people’s taste buds away!
It’s a summer salad that has it all! The Sweetness and crunch of the watermelon, the saltiness from the halloumi irresistible juicy plump prawns. It is accompanied by a delicious zesty dressing made with tahini, yoghurt and lemon.
Make this Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad this Christmas as it’ll surely impress people!
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Tahini, yoghurt and lemon dressing
For me, the heart of every great tasting salad is the dressing. A perfect dressing should enhance the flavours without overpowering the salad.
The dressing for this salad is thicker than the usual dressing because watermelon contains lots of water. We don’t want our salad turning into mush!. The dressing has Middle Eastern flavours and is made with Tahini, yoghurt and lemon.
To make the dressing exotic and beautiful you have the option of adding pomegranate arils. The arils look like glistening ruby stones, pomegranate is one of the most beautiful fruits out there. The arils will burst in your mouth when chewed on, it’s delightfully sweet and slightly tart.
Spooning the thick dressing over the salad and be surprised how good it all tastes together! The zingy dressing complements the salad so well and does not interfere with the prawns, halloumi and watermelon flavours.
The yoghurt based dressing kept the salad refreshing rather than weighing it down as a rich and creamy dressing would. This is a stunning salad is not only delicious, it’s also healthy and low in calories!
Watermelon in a savoury salad?
I always thought eating watermelon and mangoes with savoury dishes (not after) was a normal thing all families do. Growing up, my mum regularly served us fruit to eat with the mains when she made us fried chicken or fish for dinner.
My friends at Uni had to break it to me that it wasn’t normal at all. At the time I was living on campus and it was my turn to cook so I made a stirfry and served it watermelon. My friends eyed each other confusedly and asked me if we were rushing to go anywhere as I was serving mains and desserts together.
I was confused that they were confused. In the end, it was decided that my mum was a weirdo and it was not normal to serve fruits as a side with mains.
Well, that’s okay because normal is boring and I am 100% still on my mum’s ‘the weirdo’ team. I have watermelon and mangos as a side dish when I make something rich, salty or fried. The fruit gives a nice burst of freshness to the palate in between bites.
I also love mixing fruits with savoury dishes as shown in my MANGO SALSA SALMON and RED DUCK CURRY WITH LYCHEES recipes, and now I can add this one to my collection!
Ingredients needed for Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad
Prawns (Shrimps) – I used fresh medium-sized shelled tiger prawns that were pre-cooked. Raw prawns can be used, just grill or stirfry them with a tiny bit of oil just until they are no longer opaque.
Watermelon – I preferred the round seedless varieties rather than the oval-shaped ones as I don’t like seeds. Any ripe and sweet watermelon varieties can be used in this recipe.
Halloumi Cheese – Halloumi is a hard cheese that comes with a small amount of brine. When cooked it has a springy and chewy texture comparable to firm tofu. Haloumi is usually fried or grilled before eating and keeps its shape when cooking. It has a yummy salty and savoury taste.
Baby rocket (Arugula) – Baby rocket is less bitter and more tender to eat than the regular varieties.
Tahini – Is a paste made from sesame seeds, it has a nutty and earthy flavour. It can be found in the international or health food aisle in the supermarket.
Pomegranate arils (optional) – Pomegranate is a round reddish fruit with a hard shell and inside are beautiful ruby coloured arils. I kept this an option as it’s more of a garnish in this dish but it still brings in flavour if added.
How to make Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad
Step-by-step guide with photos
Make the dressing first to give it time to sit so the flavours can infuse.
FOR THE DRESSING: In a bowl add in garlic, yoghurt, tahini, dill, salt, lemon juice and its zest, mix well to combine. Drizzle with extra virgin oil and top the dressing with pomegranate arils (if using) and dill.
Prepare the salad:
Peel and devein the prawns leaving the tail intact. Cut the watermelon into thin wedges. Slice the onion into thin rings and carefully separate it. carefully remove the arils in the pomegranate (if using).
Gently and neatly arrange the watermelon, rocket, prawns, onion into a big serving bowl or plate.
COOK THE HALLOUMI – Slice the halloumi into 1cm in thickness. Spray a nonstick frypan with oil and heat it up on medium heat for a minute. Add in the halloumi and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden. Place the halloumi and pomegranate (if using) on top of the salad and serve immediately with the dressing.
The salad (without halloumi) can be made 2 hours in advance before serving, don’t start any earlier as the watermelon may get runny and wilt. Cook the halloumi just before serving as cold halloumi gets hard and is not nice to eat.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
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Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre
Prawn Halloumi Watermelon Salad
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 2 tbsp tahini (NOTE 1)
- ¾ cup Greek yoghurt
- 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 1 large lemon (rind finely grated and juiced)
- 2 tsp fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried dill)
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- pomegrante arils (optional garnish) (NOTE 2)
For the salad
- 1 kilo watermelon (sliced into thin wedges) (NOTE 3)
- 700 gm unpeeled fresh cooked prawns (peeled and deveined) (NOTE 4)
- 250 gm halloumi cheese (1cm slices) (NOTE 5)
- 50 gm baby rocket (NOTE 6)
- ½ small red onion (sliced thinly)
- pomegrante arils (optional garnish)
Instructions
- FOR THE DRESSING: In a bowl add in garlic, yoghurt, tahini, dill, salt, lemon juice and its zest, mix well to combine. Drizzle with extra virgin oil and top the dressing with pomegranate arils (if using) and dill.
- PREPARE THE SALAD – Peel and devein the prawns leaving the tail intact. Cut the watermelon into thin wedges. Slice the onion into thin rings and carefully separate it. carefully remove the arils in the pomegranate (if using). Gently and neatly arrange the watermelon, rocket, prawns, onion into a big serving bowl or plate.
- COOK THE HALLOUMI – Slice the halloumi into 1cm in thickness. Spray a nonstick frypan with oil and heat it up on medium heat for a minute. Add in the halloumi and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden. Place the halloumi and pomegranate (if using) on top of the salad and serve immediately with the dressing.
