Melon and Jicama Salad with Cumin Cucumber Dressing
Today I am going to introduce you to my best friend in the kitchen. Well, other than Sadie and Skyler, who are my constant companions while I cook.
The Flavor Bible
Yesterday, I had a bowl of macadamia nuts soaking. Wanting to use them before it was too late, I picked up “The Flavor Bible” and looked up macadamia nuts. I already know many things that go with macadamia nuts but The Flavor Bible lists so many things…many which I never would have thought of.
Macadamia nuts “volume” is considered to be moderate which means they won’t completely overwhelm a recipe. I also had tons of lemons, dropped off by my assistant, Shannon, and cucumbers. After looking up each ingredient, I got thinking. The macadamia nuts went in the high-speed blender, along with garlic and lemon juice.
Wanting to lighten up this nut based dressing, I threw in a cucumber. After a taste, everything started falling into place. Listed as a match for cucumber was cumin. The minute I saw that, the rest of the salad took shape in my mind. Jicama and melon would be the star players of this salad and the cumin cucumber dressing, the supporting player. All of the flavors play off of each other beautifully and the cumin brought a depth and savoriness to the sweet, cool flavors of the jicama and melon. A melon jicama salad!
Once the salad was mixed up, I decided I wanted a little more heat and crunch. I added red pepper flakes (completely optional) and pumpkin seeds. When everything came together, it was heaven! I had a huge bowl for lunch and mixed it with black rice for dinner. It was so tasty, we ate the whole batch and today I made another.
You can find The Flavor Bible here: THE FLAVOR BIBLE
Equipment needed:
Jicama and Melon Salad with Cumin Cucumber Dressing
SERVES 4
Dressing
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, soaked for 6 hours, rinsed and drained
- 1 medium cucumber, peeled and cubed
- 1 clove garlic
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- Himalayan salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- Place all ingredients in high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
Salad
- 3 cups jicama, cubed
- 3 cups musk melon. cubed
- 1/2 cup scallions, sliced
- 1-2 tablespoons red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/2 – 1 cup pumpkin seeds
- dressing
- Place all ingredients in bowl and toss to combine.
sandra wrote on June 26, 2013
I love jicama but only ever ate it by itself. what a great idea to put it in a salad.
Susan wrote on May 12, 2013
Hi, Hannah, Actually, I made this dressing specifically to pair with the ingredients in the salad. But feel free to experiment with it. Cheers!
hannah wrote on May 12, 2013
This looks absolutely delicious thanks for sharing!
But it’s totally impossible to get jicama in the UK, did you make any other great salads with the dressing leftovers?
thanks again!
marquis @realrawkitchen wrote on May 6, 2013
What a great combination of flavors! Thank you so much for sharing. I love your site so much because it is so creative. I’m going to look into the book, now, as well. I will also be trying out this recipe! Thanks! -marquis
Kris wrote on May 4, 2013
WOW, this is a wonderful, light, flavor packed
recipe. It will become a staple for the coming summer. Thank you
Marta @ What should I eat for breakfast today wrote on May 2, 2013
I like the additional crunch 🙂
Therawfoodsisters wrote on May 2, 2013
Looks Amazing! We have hardly used any macadamia nuts but now we got the perfect recipe 😀 Thanks for sharing!
NIKA wrote on May 2, 2013
Dear Susan, here in Italy is very difficult to find jicama, there is only the sweet potato red burgundy. Could you help me buy the seeds? I could start growing possessing a grove. Thank you very much.
Susan wrote on May 2, 2013
I would love to but honestly, have no idea where I would even find the seeds. You could try mail ordering them.
Julie wrote on April 28, 2013
just made this for supper – YUM! I made several substitutions because I didn’t wanna run out to the store for more stuff. LOL Instead of the melon, I used red and green grapes along with a bit of red bell pepper, used green onions instead of scallions, and used sunflower seeds instead of pumpkin seeds. Finally, I didn’t have any macadamia nuts, but I did have some presoaked cashews that I was going to use for vegan mayo, so I used some of those. Everything combined beautifully – tasty, crunchy, and refreshing! I had never tried jicama before, but think I will be buying it more often from now on!