Watermelon, Dukkah & Feta Salad
This watermelon and feta salad is perfect for summer! Wedges of juicy melon topped with salty feta cheese, fresh mint and crunchy hazelnut dukkah.
Servings: 4 People
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Baking Tray
Ingredients
Watermelon Salad
- 1 Watermelon
- 200 g Cherry Tomatoes
- 2 Sticks Celery
- 1 tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Mint
- 100 g Feta
- 1 Lime (Cut Into Wedges)
- Olive Oil
Hazelnut Dukkah
- 50 g Blanched Hazelnuts
- 2 tsp Sesame Seeds
- 1 tsp Fennel Seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 tsp Coriander Seeds
- 1 tsp Nigella Seeds
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano
- Fine Sea Salt
Instructions
Hazelnut Dukkah
- Preheat an oven to 180°c/356°f (160°c/320°f fan).
- Place the hazelnuts onto a baking tray & cook in the preheated oven for 5-10 minutes until golden brown then leave to cool.
- Next, set a small frying pan over a medium heat then add in the fennel, cumin, coriander & nigella seeds. Toast until fragrant (30 seconds - 1 minute) then transfer to a bowl.
- Place the pan back on the heat then add in the sesame seeds & toast until golden, stirring regularly. Transfer to another bowl & leave to cool.
- Once cool, place the hazelnuts into a pestle & mortar, coarsely chop then transfer to a bowl. Add the toasted seeds (apart from the sesame) to the pestle & mortar & crush lightly.
- Add the crushed seeds, sesame seeds, paprika & oregano to the crushed hazelnuts then season with a pinch of sea salt then stir to combine.
Watermelon Salad
- Using a sharp knife, remove the rind from the watermelon, cut into 1cm thick chunks & place into a large bowl.At this point, you can either compress the melon following these instructions or leave it as it is.
- Half the cherry tomatoes & dice the celery. Add these into the bowl with the melon along with the chopped mint. Season the salad with sea salt, drizzle over a generous glug of olive oil & mix to coat.Cut the celery however chunky you like!
- Dish the salad up into bowls then crumble over the feta & sprinkle with a generous amount of hazelnut dukkah. Dress each salad with more olive oil then serve with a wedge of lime.
Notes
1. Cooking In An Aga - Roast the hazelnuts on the bottom set of runners in the baking oven.
2. Compressed Melon - My guide to making compressed watermelon can be found here. Feel free to make it with regular watermelon though, it will still taste as good.
3. Making Ahead Of Time - The sliced mint in this salad will start to oxidise & discolour if left for too long so it’s a good idea to prepare this just before assembling the salad. The melon can be prepared up to a day in advance but it will start to dry out if prepped too far in advance.
4. Dukkah - You might have seen the dukkah used for this salad on the blog before when I served it with my homemade hummus. The recipe for the dukkah makes more than you need but it is very versatile so I always like to have some around.
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