Salads

Summer Watermelon Salad With a Spicy Twist

Meet your new favorite way to eat watermelon.

By Suruchi Avasthi
Paneer and Watermelon Salad | This Brown Kitchen

It’s been one of those summers where each day seems to feels hotter than the one before. Even going outside to run errands feels like the biggest effort when the sun is beating down. Needless to say, the last thing I’ve wanted to do this summer is turn on the oven—even my stove-usage has been at an all time low. Lucky for me, salads are always of my favorite things to whip up all year round, but nothing quite beats a crisp, summer watermelon salad. Someone recently asked me if I ever get bored of salads since I eat them all the time (Ha!..Never). While I could see how eating the same salad everyday might be a bit monotonous, experimenting with seasonal produce and new ingredients keep my salad game fresh and exciting. So I happily snuck into the back of my freezer for some paneer, brought out my ultimate spice blend, and chopped up my favorite summer ingredient for a super easy and delicious plate.

Here’s how to make my favorite summer salad—it’s got a spicy Indian kick to it (no surprises there!), is bursting with cooling flavors, and is sure to wow anyone you serve it to.

While you might recognize most of these ingredients, the wild card here is the paneer. I’ve shared paneer before on Global Kitchen (remember these Naan Pizzas?) but as a refresher, paneer is an acid-set cheese that is similar to halloumi in that you can pan-fry or grill it without it melting. My mom would make big batches of paneer to keep in the fridge for vegetable dishes growing up, and while I don’t make paneer myself, you can find it at some grocery stores and any Indian or ethnic store.

To add an extra kick of flavor to this salad, I slice up the paneer and toss it in a bit of olive oil and a heaping spoon of chaat masala. Chaat masala is a spice blend used in lots of South Asian dishes and usually consists of spices like mango powder, cumin, ginger, black pepper, hing, and chili powder. It’s more sweet and tangy with a kick in flavor than garam masala, and while it may seem strange, it pairs perfectly with fruit. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve seen my mom with a plate of sliced pears or apples that she’s sprinkled with chaat masala, and after many years I’ve finally jumped on the train.

I kept assembly simple here with just a big bunch of greens, the paneer, and sliced melons which I always have bowls of in my fridge during the summer. There’s just something so refreshing about biting into a big chunk of watermelon and getting that sweet flavor.

The dressing is super simple, so feel free to adjust as you like! This would even be delicious with the addition of tomatoes, cucumbers, or even some slices of avocados. The best part of a salad plate is that you can add things and experiment as you like, so let me know you favorite combos!

Get more recipes from Global Kitchen here!

Grilled Paneer and Watermelon Salad

Serves 3

Summer Watermelon Salad With a Spicy Twist

By Camille Styles
Prep

10 minutes

Cook

30 minutes

Categories


Ingredients

for the salad ::

  • 1 box of greens of choice
  • 1/2 cantaloupe, sliced
  • 1/2 honeydew melon, sliced
  • 1/4 large watermelon, cubed
  • a handful of chopped mint
  • 8oz of paneer, cut into slices
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp chaat masala
  • salt to taste

for the dressing

  • juice of 1 1/2 lemons
  • 1/2 tbsp honey
  • 1 bunch of mint
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. to a large salad plate or bowl, add the greens, melons, and chopped mint, and toss together. set aside.
  2. bring a grill pan up to a medium-high heat.
  3. in a small mixing bowl, add the sliced paneer, olive oil, chaat masala, and a pinch of salt. toss together until the paneer is evenly coated.
  4. lay the paneer slices onto the grill and cook for about 2 - 3 minutes on each side until you get golden grill marks on the paneer.
  5. remove paneer from the grill pan and toss into the salad bowl.
  6. to make the dressing, add all of the ingredients into a small blender and blend until smooth. drizzle over salad and toss together. enjoy!

Comments (2)

  1. BeingIsabella says:

    Yum! This salad looks fabulous, and I can tell you right away that my family will love this. We really like having orange salads in the summer and we love watermelon, so I’m sure that this mix of fruit will be a great combination. Very refreshing with the arugula. I like chana masala but I’ve never had such spices in a summer. I guess this the season for trying new things. The cheese looks great too, do you think goat will work too if I can’t find that one anywhere?

    http://www.beingisabella.com

  2. Daisy - DaisyLinden.com says:

    tired of all the boring and simple salads. i like the recipe a lot especially for the fact that its new and offers a little crunch too!

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